Montreal: Astral Communications shareholders will be asked to approve a change in corporate name to Astral Media at the company’s agm in Montreal, Feb. 24. Astral’s board has already approved the change.

Management says the change focuses attention on the company’s media assets in tv, radio, outdoor advertising and new media. A new master brand logo was developed by Carre Rouge Communication and designer Gilles Brault.

On a roll, the company opened a new $10-million broadcasting centre Jan. 25.

The 20,000-square-foot origination facility also houses a 7,500-square-foot, climate-controlled library.

‘We’ll broadcast some 50 channels from the centre, up to 40 channels of [pay-per-view service] Canal Indigo, four of Super Ecran [one main channel and three multiplex channels] and the six specialties, three existing and the three new ones,’ says Pierre Roy, president of Les Chaines Tele-Astral.

Roy says much of the money for the centre’s hybrid technology mix went to digital servers, vtrs and routers. Canadian suppliers include Leitch, Miranda, Triple Vision and Matrox. International suppliers include Sony, Philips, Tektronix, jvc, Louth and Pro-Consultant.

In financial news, equity investment basis results for the first quarter ending Nov. 30 include a 48% increase in ebitda to $14.5 million. Cash flow from operations is up 19% to $7.5 million, while top-line operations revenues are up 5% to $110.6 million. Profit increased 9% over the previous year to $3.5 million, or an eps of $0.18.

On a consolidated basis, quarterly results, which include the preauthorized results for Radiomutuel, show revenues rising to $137.6 million, ebitda to $18.5 million, cash flow from operations to $11.9 million, and earnings before taxes to $7.8 million.

The broadcast operations centre is located at Guy and boul. Rene-Levesque, in the city’s downtown core. Administration, programming and marketing remain at Maison Astral.