RE: RE: Was Jean Monty a genius after all?Thanks for sharing aclcmc. There were plenty of folks and companies whose imaginations were fired by the IT revolution and whose business plans made sense--years later. They were far too early for their own good.
The pipes-content marriage may not work if free or lower-cost alternatives are readily available and pipe owners cannot restrict access. Me thinks the success of converged information assets will depend on the ability of companies to differentiate content and offer something unique whose consumption can be protected from freeriders. Though I suppose that if specific content, e.g., streaming television, is added to the digital information service package, the potential for differentiating bundled services is almost endless. Hmmm.....
I like the standalone potential for CTV, and Global-TV (former CanWest, now owned by Shaw Comm.). But if convergence works, all the better. I would guess that a modest convergence premium is already being built into the share price of several Canadian converged entities but that the market has not yet woken up to the full potential.
aclcmc, you raise the big question. If convergence works and if telecommunication sector economies of scale are as or more important now than ever, then I can readily imagine the social interest in Belus but in your opinion will the regulator go for it?
The Harper Conservatives may be most sympathetic to the notion of a Canadian telecom giant but will the Canadian public let it happen? There is one story that Canadian banks escaped a crisis recently precisely because the federal government had prevented chartered bank mergers.
I see the emergence of a few giant home-grown players as positive for Canadian consumers. It would work even better if barriers to foreign capital are taken down.
Own BCE, Shaw Comm., and Quebecor (Vidéotron)