TORONTO – As the CRTC considers Shaw’s proposed purchase of Canwest Global’s TV assets, one industry analyst specualted on the implications of content providers making their content proprietary.
In a note to investors on Tuesday, Dvai Ghose, the managing director and head of Canadian research for Canaccord Genuity, said that companies like BCE and Rogers “see content ownership as an essential bargaining chip when negotiating content deals”, which, he continued, could make it difficult for companies who do not own content, naming TELUS and MTS as examples, to compete in the broadband, TV, and wireless segments.
“This does not seem to be in the interest of regulators as such an interpretation would essentially mean that access providers have to own TV and other content to be competitive”, Ghose wrote. “Even if regulators make such a decision, we believe content has to be offered to all third parties to maximize advertising revenue.”
Ghose opined that with Canadians increasingly getting content from sources other than conventional TV networks, access providers should focus on access, not content.
“Connectivity-content marriages have generally failed and this seems, in part, because connectivity providers are not good at managing content”, he added.
Ghose debated this very topic at a panel discussion at the Canadian Telecom Summit in June.
– Lesley Hunter
