Article content

Bigger is better when it comes to protecting Canada’s broadcast industry from foreign invaders, executives for BCE Inc. and Astral Media Inc. said Monday as they made their case for a planned $3.38-billion merger to regulators.

And they promise to take the fight straight to consumers with a homegrown service to rival relative newcomer Netflix, the California-based streaming video company they see at the vanguard of a flotilla of large foreign companies with little interest in Canada beyond profit.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or BCE to launch rival to Netflix in English and French Back to video

Netflix and its bigger cousins are growing to pose a direct challenge to the national broadcast sector and the cultural benefits it yields, BCE and Astral executives appearing together in front of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission said Monday.

BCE’s bid for Astral will beef Bell Media up into the kind of heavy hitter needed to quell the tide and ensure a competitive domestic alternative exists, the two companies told regulators weighing whether to accept, amend or reject the controversial transaction.