*Astral to be included in TSE 300

Astral Communications will be included in both the TSE 300 Composite and TSE 200 Indexes effective with the opening of trading Feb. 19. ‘For the first time, Astral will be classified as a broadcasting company,’ says chairman Andre Bureau.

The news comes as Astral reports a sharp hike in first-quarter ’99 profits, revenues and ebitda. Profits were up 33% to $3.2 million while revenues from operations increased 44% to $106 million. An ebitda of $9.8 million represents a 23% hike over the same quarter in ’98.

According to the company, sales from the Blockbuster Video deal and growing revenues from Teletoon and Family Channel account for much of the growth.

Last month, Cogeco Cable announced it had also been added to the TSE 300 Composite Index.

*Catalyst sells TV movies to ISV

Catalyst Distribution has sold the French Canada home video and television rights of its tv movies Universal Soldier ii and iii to Les Editions, isv. isv will release Universal Soldier ii on home video to the Quebec market in June and Universal Soldier iii in July. Based in Montreal, isv will also work with Catalyst on television sales of the series in French Canada.