MLSE purchase gets nod

Bell, Rogers share rich sports prize

OTTAWA — The CRTC gave its approval Thursday for the sale of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and its sports television channels to two of Canada’s biggest media companies, BCE and Rogers Communications.

As part of the approval, BCE and Rogers will be required to spend $7.5 million over the next seven years on new sports-themed programming by Canadian independent producers.

The federal broadcast regulator also repeated its assertion that companies are prohibited from offering television programs on an exclusive basis to their mobile or Internet subscribers.

“When deciding whether or not to approve a proposed ownership transaction, the Commission must be persuaded, in light of the application and the public record that an approval is in the public interest,” CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said.

“In this case, we have been convinced that the transaction benefits Canadians as it will lead to the creation of new home-grown sports programming.”

MLSE owns the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team as well as the Toronto Raptors basketball team and Toronto FC soccer team. It also owns Leafs TV, Gol TV and NBA TV Canada, as well as two services that have not yet launched.

Critics of the deal, which is expected to close this summer, have raised questions about the effect of putting so much content in the hands of some of Canada’s largest companies, fearing consumers will ultimately pay more.

Under terms of the deal, Rogers and Bell will pay the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan about $533 million apiece for their respective 37.5-percent chunks of MLSE. Minority owner Larry Tannenbaum, through his company Kilmer Sports, will boost his current stake in MLSE by five per cent to 25 per cent.