Vancouver: A flurry of ownership changes mean West Coast and East Coast companies are becoming greater cable forces in the post-monopoly era.

On Nov. 5, the crtc approved the sale of Vancouver’s Pacific Place Cable – one of the first cable companies to break the Canadian cablecasters’ dominance – to Novus Telecom, also based in Vancouver.

Formerly owned by software manufacturer Multiactive Communications and Telus Communications (once BC Tel), ppc provides cable service to high-density Pacific Place, an urban community along False Creek with a long series of new multi-unit condominium towers.

Novus, meanwhile, is a new company that is bundling telephone, cable and Internet service into a single package. The purchase deal is not yet finalized.

At the same time, Regional Cablesystems in St. John’s, Nfld., is on a shopping spree of its own.

On Nov. 1, the company announced the acquisition of interior b.c. cable systems operated in Oliver and Osoyoos by Wood Lake Cable and in Keremeos by Keremeos Cable.

On the same day, Regional sealed a deal to purchase all outstanding shares of Shawville Cable and Pontiac Cable Company in the Upper Outaouais region of western Quebec.

As a company specializing in ‘non-metropolitan’ cable markets, Regional has also recently bought cable properties in Ontario.

The cost of the recent acquisitions tops $11 million, and cash-rich Regional is still boasting $120 million in monies available for more purchases.

Not to be outdone by the upstarts, Shaw Communications of Calgary completed its acquisition of Fundy Communications in New Brunswick on Nov. 2. Fundy has 192,000 customers.