CRTC accepts it can do little about existing Bell-NFL mobile deal

OTTAWA – Its game over for Telus’ complaints against Bell over exclusive mobile rights agreements to select National Hockey League (NHL) and National Football League (NFL) content, the CRTC said Thursday. In a letter addressed to Mirko Bibic, Bell’s SVP of regulatory and government affairs, the Commission said that it accepts Bell’s report that the two agreements in question were entered into prior to the issuance of a temporary moratorium against certain new exclusive programming agreements, and before the vertical integration framework prohibition against carriage exclusives on new media platforms. The Commission also acknowledged that Bell has since reached a...