TORONTO – In a sometimes entertainingly worded decision, Ontario Superior Court of Justice judge Fred Myers sided with Bell Media in saying VMedia’s new Roku TV skinny basic cable application launched in September breaks the law and that Bell’s channels CTV and CTV2 must be removed from the service.
He also awarded $150,000 in costs to Bell Media. The case over the app, which we reported on previously, was heard last week in Toronto.
While noting “some of the statutory drafting and terminology used in this case is confusing,” he nonetheless backed Bell in saying VMedia’s new product violated Bell’s rights under the Copyright Act.
The decision looked back at the history of TV in Canada as well as the invention of cable TV and the advantages it brought to consumers, noting “And Parliament said this was good.” He also went through the launch of new media video streamers and the CRTC’s digital media exemption order (DMEO) allowing those broadcasting on the internet to do their thing, unencumbered by licenses, adding then “And Parliament said this was bad.”
“Parliament decided that unregulated internet broadcasters should not be entitled to compulsory licenses under the Copyright Act. So it amended s. 31 of the Copyright Act in 2002 to remove the compulsory license from new media or internet broadcasters. That is, although they are unregulated and may lawfully broadcast on the internet without a license from the CRTC, if internet broadcasters want to obtain programming, they need the consent of copyright owners in the ordinary course even if they want to simultaneously retransmit local over-the-air television just like a cable company,” reads the decision.
Bell did not provide this consent for VMedia’s new app, although the independent BDU claimed it did not need consent to retransmit off-air conventional TV stations.
“VMedia's argument runs squarely into the CRTC's determination that internet broadcasting by a licensee is a separate undertaking from its licensed broadcasting undertakings. If new media or internet broadcasting is a separate undertaking from VMedia's BDU licenses, then VMedia's use of the internet is indeed only lawful due to the Exemption Order and therefore it does not qualify for the compulsory license in s. 31 (2) of the Copyright Act.”
It’s not known at this time if VMedia will pull the app altogether or just remove the Bell channels, but as reported prior, other broadcasters are not pleased to have their channels in that product as well.
