TVA’s acquisition of Transcontinental magazines approved

TVA Group’s proposed acquisition of Transcontinental’s consumer magazine portfolio was recently cleared by the Competition Bureau. Both TVA and Transcontinental are major Canadian communications companies with a strong sector in magazine publishing. Under the acquisition, TVA will become the sole owner of 11 magazine brands, which include well-known titles such as Elle Canada, Canadian Living and The Hockey News.

The Bureau concluded that the transaction is unlikely to result in a substantial lessening or prevention of competition, based on the following considerations:

• the presence of competitors in the same magazine genres
• advertisers’ abilities to reach the same demographics through other magazines and media
• the general decline in readership of magazines due in part to the rise of the Internet as an alternative reading source

Based on these findings, the Competition Bureau issued a No Action Letter, indicating that it will not challenge the proposed transaction at this time.