Federal Competition Bureau officials, accompanied by police, have searched the executive offices of Postmedia Network Canada Corp. and Torstar Corp. as part of a review of their deal to swap 41 newspapers, which is being investigated under the conspiracy and merger provisions of the Competition Act, the Globe and Mail reports
When the deal was announced in November, both companies also said they would subsequently shut down all but five of the papers. On the same day, the Competition Bureau confirmed that it would review the transaction to determine whether it could "result in a substantial lessening or prevention of competition in any market in Canada."
The newspaper closings meant that Postmedia and Torstar would face less competition from each other in some Ontario markets that are strategically important for each company: For Torstar, those are the Kawarthas and the Niagara region, and for Postmedia, those include Ottawa, London and the region encompassing Kingston and Belleville. Torstar also closed the free commuter papers 24 Hours in Toronto and Vancouver, which competed with its free Metro papers.
No comments:
Post a Comment