Several consumer groups will tell the CRTC Tuesday that it is against the national interest for BCE to absorb Astral Media. They say the proposed transaction would eliminate the largest remaining independent broadcaster and further concentrate an already heavily concentrated Canadian media market in the hands of a few large vertically integrated players (Bell, Rogers, Shaw). In particular, the groups noted that the proposed transaction, if approved, would allow Bell to control 59.2% of revenues in the French-language pay and specialty television market. Broadcaster
