CTVglobemedia will be front and center on April 30, when the CRTC and its new chairman begin hearings into its buyout of CHUM. The Competition Bureau okayed the deal, and the commission is, depending on whom you ask, expected to either roll over for the CTV parent or to attach any number of conditions on the $1.4-billion deal. So we ask:

‘What will the CRTC decide about CHUM?’

It’s a done deal. I don’t see how the CRTC, at this stage, would block. But they may request some concessions in order to grant the licence – maybe additional things for Canadian programming.
Sunni Boot,
President and CEO of media buyer Zenith Optimedia

Given what’s already happened with Rogers making an offer for part of the CHUM group, the decision will involve CTVglobemedia acquiring part of CHUM and being required to divest part of it.
John Doyle,
Television critic at The Globe and Mail

We think that the CRTC would be smart to not allow CHUM to sell the A Channels. They should keep the A Channels and build them into the CTV family.
Ian Morrison,
Spokesperson for Friends of Canadian Broadcasting

[It] will go through. There will be some repercussions, but the acquisition of Alliance Atlantis by CanWest – which also is expected to go through – will even things out.
Theresa Treutler,
SVP media director at Doner Canada

Each merger seems to fuel the argument in favor of more mergers. The big question is, where will it end?
Karen Wirsig,
Spokesperson for the Canadian Media Guild