GATINEAU – On Wednesday morning the CRTC held a rare show-cause hearing to determine whether TVA Group is in violation or has violated CRTC regulation by withdrawing TVA Sports’ signal from distribution by Bell Canada (Bell), and if the CRTC should issue a mandatory order requiring the licensee to comply with the said regulations (not to mention more consequences).
In principle, it is a legalistic argument and a little dry. Of course, Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau (pictured today in a CPAC.ca screen cap, right) used his time in front of the Commission today to continue delivering the same message. While we felt he clearly went over his allotted speaking time, he was allowed to finish his tirade. He repeated many of the same themes we have been covering for some weeks now. (You can read stories here, here, here, here, here and here.)
Then, CRTC lawyer Valérie Dionne, whose job it is to get certain facts on the record, asked Péladeau and company COO and chief legal officer Marc Tremblay some pointed questions on timelines – and also whether they recognize the possible consequences of their actions. She appeared to be treated rather casually by the Quebecor team. (Ed note: Bad form.)
Then came Bell’s Mirko Bibic, the company’s chief operating officer and no stranger to being in front of commissioner. After an homage to the recently departed André Bureau, he opened up the artillery on Quebecor.
“The facts that give rise to this hearing are indisputable,” he said in French. “At 7 p.m. on April 10th, Quebecor cut the TVA Sports signal from Bell TV and several smaller BDUs just as the NHL’s first playoff game was about to begin; a move that affected approximately one million viewers in the province of Québec and elsewhere,” said Bibic. Some independent BDUs receive their TV signals through Bell TV and so when Bell was cut off from TVA Sports, so were their customers.
Bibic (pictured below) said later that Bell was only informed the signal would be cut by a phone call late on Monday, April 8th when a Quebecor representative told him to watch the pages of Quebecor’s Le Journal de Montreal the next morning. In the April 9th edition was an ad placed by ownership which set out its plan. The signal was deleted from Bell at 7 p.m. that evening.
He called Quebecor’s actions “calculated, premeditated and designed to inflict maximum damage on Bell’s customers,” he added, “cutting off TVA Sports’ signal to over 425,000 Bell TV homes as well as the customers of small BDUs such as MNSi Internet, Beanfield, RTC Havre-Saint-Pierre, Tbaytel, Vianet, Zazeen and Altima all of whom depend on Bell TV for signal transport.”
“You cannot violate a law just because you don’t think it is valid.” – Mirko Bibic, Bell Canada
Quebecor’s claim is that the relevant regulation is invalid, so it doesn’t have to comply with CRTC’s regulation but as Bibic said, “You cannot violate a law just because you don’t think it is valid. Unless and until it is set aside—or you obtain a stay—you have to comply with it.”
It would mean total anarchy in a regulated industry, if this were allowed to happen with no consequences.
So, Bell wants more than just a mandatory order demanding Quebecor provide its signal to Bell TV and not remove it again. Its executives told the Commission that it wants revocation of the TVA Sports licence.
However, should the CRTC not go to that extreme, which would affect all TVA Sports subscribers with all BDUs, Bell proposed other sanctions instead. Rob Malcolmson, senior vice-president of regulatory affairs and government relations for BCE, proposed “to suspend the licence until June 30th, coincident with the end of the NHL Playoffs.”
Malcolmson also noted that Quebecor could still show its sports content on its main TVA network, in order to keep sports fans happy.
“The Commission must issue a mandatory order today to maintain the signal and impose any conditions associated with suspension, pursuant to section 12(2) of the Act, and register it with the Federal Court before April 23rd,” he demanded. “The injunction requiring Quebecor to restore service that was granted by the Québec Superior Court expires on April 23rd and without an enforceable Commission order, we are concerned that Quebecor will again pull its signal.”
Both Bibic and Malcolmson reiterated at separate times during their appearance “we must emphasize that a mandatory order alone is not enough. If the only penalty for non-compliance is compliance, there is no deterrence.”
Imposing fines is within CRTC’s power, too, they suggested.
“How the Commission chooses to react will send a signal not only to the public but to all the other companies that fall under the Commission’s jurisdiction as well as to other regulated industries. Your decision today should send a clear, unequivocal message that premeditated, deliberate regulatory malfeasance will not be tolerated,” said Malcolmson.
When asked by Cartt.ca if negotiations could be resumed with Quebecor on this matter, Bibic clearly indicated that good faith had disappeared, and the CRTC’s Final Offer Arbitration would be the only way an agreement could be achieved.
The CRTC should be issuing a decision shortly, the CRTC Chairman indicated.
As for future action on the part of any party is anyone's guess, including Quebecor closing TVA Sports which they have alluded to numerous times over the past weeks.
