By Ahmad Hathout
Bell is alleging that Telus is unduly disadvantaging its newly branded television networks after the broadcaster signed a deal in March to carry Rogers’s Warner Bros. Discovery programming.
In the partially redacted complaint, dated late April but only made public last week, Bell says its USA Network, Oxygen True Crime, CTV Nature, CTV Speed, and CTV Wild services are being treated unfairly because the broadcaster is allegedly looking to remove the services from some packages containing Rogers’s Discovery content.
“We are not trying to maintain a de facto access right for the Rebranded Services. However, once Telus made their decision to broadly distribute the RSM [Rogers Sports and Media] Services, the Rebranded Services should be entitled to the same packaging and distribution,” Bell says in the complaint. “As such, we believe the Commission must closely scrutinize Telus’ actions, and that it must consider the significant negative impact that Telus’ actions will have on the diversity of programming and consumer choice.
“Continuing to offer the Rebranded Services in the current packages will in no way impact Telus’ ability to deliver choice and flexibility to consumers,” Bell continues.
Bell adds that Telus’s decision will “significantly impact Bell Media’s ability to continue to invest in Canadian programming for these channels.”
Corus and Bell were forced to go through a makeover of the services that previously held WBD and NBCUniversal content following last summer’s blockbuster deal that saw Rogers scoop up the rights to the American brands.
As a result, Bell said in the complaint that it informed Telus in late October about its need to rebrand its services, which triggered a dispute regarding the repackaging of them. The two have since been in a regulatory standstill, Bell says.
Then in March, Telus signed a distribution agreement to carry Rogers’s Food Network, HGTV, Discovery, Investigation Discovery, and Magnolia services. The services are included in a new theme pack called Discovery and Reality and individually in existing plans, the complaint alleges.
That means that Rogers’s services are to be given “to approximately 300,000 legacy subscribers that have previously opted for this content and are subscribed to a bundle of theme packs that includes these services,” the complaint claims.
Bell believes that these legacy subscribers are the current viewers of its own rebranded services, “since only that group could have ‘previously opted’ for the Warner branded content,” adding it was thereafter forced to file this complaint.
“Telus takes the position that their subscribers only care about the Discovery brand and content, and they have attempted to misrepresent the content of the Rebranded Services in the hopes that Telus subscribers will not be aware that they will be deprived of access to popular Canadian programming that they have been enjoying for many years,” Bell claims.
“Put another way, Telus’ position is that only the U.S. programming (and, more specifically, the Warner Bros. Discovery content) is the important and deciding factor for viewers and subscribers,” it further claims.
Bell launched the aforementioned new services at the start of this year. But while it says its services are similar to those offered by Rogers, Bell challenges how Telus is marketing the services to its customers.
“The brand-new RSM Services have the Discovery brands and content that were available on the Rebranded Services prior to 1 January 2025, but they are lacking all of the content that has stayed with the Rebranded Services,” Bell says in the complaint.
“Telus has repeatedly stated their belief that their subscribers are really only interested in the Warner Bros. branded content and none of the Canadian content that Bell Media has spent many years developing, and which has always made up a large portion of the most watched content on the Rebranded Services prior to the rebrand,” Bell claims. “Bell Media disagrees with Telus’ position on this matter. We believe that the Canadian content on the Rebranded Services was an equally important driver of their past success.”
Last month, Telus filed an undue preference complaint claiming Bell is deliberately obstructing its ability to introduce its broadcasting services over the larger telco’s last-mile fibre facilities in eastern Canada.
Bell’s complaint comes before a lawsuit was filed by Corus in Ontario Superior Court that revealed Telus is also in a carriage dispute with the media company.
Later this week, the CRTC will hold a public hearing about the market dynamics between distributors and programmers, which will include a study of the standstill rule.
