Astral makes wish list of WIC assets
Company interested in Family Channel, Teletoon services
Bureau was discussing Astral's acquisition wish list with reporters prior to Astral's annual general meeting, held Wednesday afternoon.
Bureau said that the Montreal-based communications company is particularly interested in picking up the rest of the Family Channel and Teletoon specialty services that Astral shares with Western Communications International, plus WIC's two pay TV services in Western Canada, (Super Channel and Movie Max) "because they would be a perfect fit," he said.
WIC Western International Communication, a Vancouver-based media company, earlier this year was carved up in principal between shareholders Shaw Communications and CanWest Global. Bumps along the Canadian regulatory road recently sent the two companies back to the drawing board, fueling rumors of a potential divestiture.
A good fit
Analysts agreed that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is unlikely to allow Shaw to break WIC up without selling some of its assets and that Astral would make a good fit.
"Have they registered their interest with us? I'd say 'yes,' " said Shaw president and chief operating officer Jim Shaw from his Calgary office, "but that's about as far as it's gone. They would be one of many that have expressed interest if we plan to sell anything, and that decision hasn't been made."
At the company's media conference and later during its annual general meeting, Astral executives also went over the company's better-than-expected financial results for fiscal 1998, reported in October, and projected continuing its solid performance for the first quarter of fiscal 1999.
