There’s a case going to trial in the U.S. It involves the takeover of the publisher Simon & Schuster by Penguin Random House. In Canada, the latter already owns:
Allen Lane, Anchor Canada, Appetite by Random House, Bond Street Books, Doubleday Canada, Hamish Hamilton Canada, Knopf Canada, McClelland & Stewart, Penguin Canada, Penguin Teen, Puffin Canada, Random House Canada, Signal, Strange Light, Tundra Books, Viking Canada, and Vintage Canada.
With a straight face, Penguin Random House says that the merger would strengthen competition among publishers.
The government, which will call Stephen King as a witness (hope they check closets, attics and basements first), “contends that the merger would hurt authors and, ultimately, readers”.
Which reminds me of another proposed merger.
Rogers Communications wants to take over Shaw Communications. Again, with a straight face, Rogers claims that:
“the Transaction will foster greater competition by creating Canada’s most robust wholly-owned national network, and generating more choice for businesses and consumers so they may realize the full economic and social benefits of next generation networks.”
The Canadian Competition Bureau begs to differ. “The Bureau is seeking to block Rogers proposed $26 billion acquisition of Shaw in an effort to protect Canadians from higher prices, poorer service quality and fewer choices, particularly in wireless services.”
Taking over a competitor, laying off staff, reducing service levels and consolidating operations increases competition, said no one ever. Any time you reduce competition, prices rise, service quality diminishes and innovation is stifled.
Here’s what the Competition Bureau said following an analysis of cellular data plans in 2017: “For example, 10GB plans can be as low as $60-75 per month in Quebec, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. By comparison, the same 10GB plans in other provinces and territories can be as high as $105-110 per month – an increase of up to 80% when compared to provinces with a strong regional competitor.”
Back in 2017, Bell wanted to buy MTS, the provincially-owned telecom company which was a strong regional competitor. As part of that deal, Bell had to hive off MTS’s cellular customers to Telus and Xplornet. As has happened in the past, Xplornet couldn’t make a go of offering cellular service and is shutting down later this month. Where will those customers go? Bell and Telus.
With Xplornet gone, how do the players stack up today? A Videotron (Quebec) plan with 50GB of data goes for $75/month. Bell's plan (today in Manitoba) is $95/month.
Then, there’s the ‘just keep saying it’ by the orange orangutang about the stolen election in 2020. He keeps saying it was stolen. Not in the states he won, just in the states he lost. Any senator or house representative that claims the election was stolen needs to resign, as they hold office illegitimately. But they’re okay with that dichotomy. How this is lost on so many people is stupefying.
“plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”
I'll leave you with:
