By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal has denied Bell’s application against a decision by the CRTC that said the company had unduly disadvantaged Quebecor’s TVA Sports in favour of its own, RDS.
The March 12 decision came after Bell requested a judicial review in January of a CRTC decision that said the company had packaged its own RDS channel differently than Quebecor’s TVA Sports, its competitor, thus muting the reach of its rival and causing a “material adverse impact on TVA Group,” the CRTC said in the December ruling.
Quebecor filed the original complaint in February 2019, alleging Bell’s Bon package, which includes RDS and some U.S. channels, reaches more viewers than its Mieux and Meilluer packages, which includes TVA Sports. Quebecor also said all other broadcasters include TVA Sports equitably in their packages in Quebec and that, in English-language markets, Rogers’ Sportsnet channel is included in Bon.
The complaint was just one of several between the rival companies, as both currently have another proceeding in front of the court in which Quebecor is arguing that it was in its right to disable its TVA Sports channel to Bell customers in Quebec last April since the companies have not agreed to new terms on that channel’s distribution.
The CRTC had already ruled in favour of Quebecor in another TV package structure dispute, when it said that there was no undue preference or disadvantage being levied by Quebecor when it repackaged Bell’s movie service Super Écran in its roster.
