GATINEAU – The Bell vs. Quebecor saga continues, but this time it’s not about Bell the carrier and Quebecor the sports channel provider.
This time Bell Media is complaining to the CRTC that its Super Écran is being poorly treated by Quebecor’s Vidéotron in violation of Commission rules.
Long the primary French-language premium pay-TV channel, Super Écran airs Canadian movies and series as well as dubbed popular English content from the likes of HBO and Showtime for French language viewers. However, a packaging change made by Vidéotron in November of 2018 which saw the Bell Media channel relocated from a “Premium Channel” package to an “Other Specialties” group has cause subscriber losses, subjecting the channel to an undue disadvantage under CRTC regulations, says Bell.
As well, since Vidéotron customers can still take the carrier’s own Club Illico video on demand as a Premium selection, that contravenes the regs, too, as it grants Vidéotron an undue preference, says the broadcaster.
All this was filed with the CRTC in a Part 1 application by Bell to the Commission on April 23rd and posted to the Regulator’s web site late last week. Bell says Vidéotron’s actions contravene section 9 of the BDU Regulations (undue disadvantage/undue preference) as well as section 3 of the Broadcasting Act (Canadian expression encouragement) and it is demanding the Commission reinstate Super Écran as a Premium Channel.
“Given the nature of Super Écran and the premium content it offers, the service should be sold as a Premium Channel, together with other premium services, as this is where the service's potential subscribers would expect to find it,” reads the Bell document.
“As a result of the packaging change, Super Écran can only be added as an included option to one of Videotron's custom packs – the one with much more limited consumer appeal than the others,” with channels such as ATN, Rai Italia and Univision, reads the Bell submission, “services that are clearly incompatible with a premium French-language television service like Super Écran.
“The Super Écran packaging change was motivated by an intent to subject Bell Media to an undue disadvantage while also conferring an undue preference on QMI.”
“The Super Écran packaging change was motivated by an intent to subject Bell Media to an undue disadvantage while also conferring an undue preference on QMI. Put simply, the best and easiest way to negatively impact a competing, non-affiliated service in the same Premium Channel category is to remove that competitor as an option entirely, thereby significantly increasing the potential for subscribers to take up your own service (i.e., club illico). That is all the more true when that service is essentially the only remaining popular French-language service amongst the Premium Channels to be selected for the popular custom packs.”
The application to the CRTC sets out how customer losses for Super Écran have accleerated since the packaging change (it was bleeding Vidéotron customers prior to the move), but those figures were redacted from the public copy.
Vidéotron (and anyone else who wants to) has until June 3 to respond to the application.
