An ownership shuffle at Bell Globemedia will not pay off as hoped for producers because, according to the CRTC, the new boss of the media giant is the same, more or less, as the old boss.

The federal watchdog has okayed an application filed late last year in which parent company BCE sought to drop its stake in BGM, which owns CTV, from 68.5% to 20% – selling the difference to the Woodbridge Company, which ups its share to 40%, and to newcomers Torstar Corporation and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

But the $1.3-billion deal will not require BGM’s owners to put up new funding for producers. The CRTC usually requires so-called benefits packages whenever a broadcaster comes under new control, generally equal to 10% of a deal’s price tag. The funding is meant to offset the possible ill effects of consolidation on producers.

In this case, however, the feds ruled that BGM has gone through a ‘change of control’ rather than a ‘transfer of control’ – given that the BGM board of directors, not another group, will take over for BCE.

The distinction sunk hopes of a $130-million windfall for producers, and provoked a dissenting opinion from CRTC commissioner Stuart Langford, who complained in a four-page rebuttal that his colleagues had been ‘distracted from the simple facts of this matter by a virtual avalanche of legal documents.’

BGM issued only the briefest of statements, saying it was pleased with the decision.

Talent unions including the Directors Guild of Canada, ACTRA and the Writers Guild of Canada spoke against the deal at CRTC hearings, arguing that effective control of BGM was being passed to Woodbridge, the holding company for late billionaire Ken Thomson and family. The Canadian Association of Broadcasters came down in favor of the deal.

Regulator approval came two weeks after BGM announced its plans to buy CHUM in a separate $1.4-billion deal that the CRTC and the federal competition bureau are expected to look at next year. BGM mailed its formal offer to CHUM shareholders on July 26 – offering $52.50 per common share and $47.25 per non-voting class B share. The offer expires on Aug. 31.

The CRTC also last month renewed the radio and TV licences of CBC stations across the country to August 2008.

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