GATINEAU – During the final regular season game of the NHL season aired on TVA Sports this past weekend, the Quebecor-owned broadcaster warned viewers they were going to lose access to the channel when the NHL playoffs begin – and that it’s all Bell’s fault.
Currently, Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau is leading a one-man public campaign decrying the state of affairs when it comes to specialty TV and the wholesale rates his TVA channels receive from carriers (please see our feature interview published here), since they are so much lower than Bell Media channels – a revenue gap which is especially large between Bell’s 30-year old sports channel RDS and Quebecor’s younger TVA Sports.
At the same time, Bell Canada and TVA are attempting to negotiate new wholesale rates for TVA channels. It isn’t going well.
Spooked by TVA’s move to warn Bell viewers they will lose access to TVA Sports in the coming days and that they should switch to other carriers (see photo), Bell wrote the CRTC on Sunday to ask for immediate action reminding the Quebec broadcaster that by rule it is isn’t allowed to delete TVA Sports from the Bell TV lineup.
It’s called the standstill rule and it means when there is a commercial dispute between carriers and broadcasters, neither side can delete signals and punish viewers for the two companies’ inability to come to an agreement. The companies are instead supposed to go to the Commission to arbitrate the dispute.
“Should Groupe TVA proceed with its announced plan to withdraw some or all of it discretionary services from the Bell Platforms, this would cause material harm to Bell and its subsidiaries and, if such action is taken, it would constitute a clear violation of Section 15(1) of the Discretionary Services Regulations (Regulations),” reads the Sunday letter from Bell to the CRTC.
En anglais, the TVA on-screen messages to viewers said: “Bell Subscribers: Bell has decided to penalize you. TVA Sports' 
signal will be suspended over the course of the next few days.
“To not miss the series, contact Cogeco, Rogers, Shaw, Telus, Videotron or your local distributor.”
“To not miss the series, subscribe to TVA Sports Direct at tvasportsdirect.ca.”
Before the close of business Monday, the CRTC responded to Bell’s request and told TVA it could not delete signals as it threatened on-air.
“Section 15 (1) of the Discretionary Services Regulations requires that, during a dispute between a BDU and a programming undertaking, the programming undertaking must continue to provide its programming services to the distribution undertaking at the same rates and on the same terms and conditions as it did before the dispute,” reads the April 8 CRTC letter.
“As set out above, the BDU regulations and the Discretionary Services Regulations contemplate dispute resolution on carriage as well as disputes regarding terms of carriage. Commission staff is of the view that the parties are engaged in such a dispute and therefore the standstill rule applies. Accordingly, Groupe TVA is required to provide the services and Bell is required to distribute these services, at the same rates and on the same terms and conditions as it did before the dispute, until the parties resolve their dispute or the Commission issues a decision concerning this unresolved matter,” added the CRTC.
"Quebecor's reckless campaign and illegal actions are all about our negotiations over pricing for its TVA Sports channel and Bell's Media's RDS sports network," said Martine Turcotte, Bell's vice chair, Québec in a late Monday press release. "Quebecor actually wants to charge Bell more to access its TVA Sports channel than Quebecor/Videotron is willing to pay for RDS. However, the reality is that RDS is the leading French-language sports network by far, consistently outpacing TVA Sports in both content and viewership."
(Ed note: All that said, QMI CEO Péladeau has of late invoked the memory of former Shaw Communications CEO, the late Jim Shaw, a man who wasn’t afraid of breaking rules. For example, 12 years ago, Shaw defied the federal government and the CRTC when the company stopped paying into the Canadian Television Fund [now the Canada Media Fund]. The regs said, and still say, TV carriers must pay into it, but Shaw was unhappy with how it was run, ceased payments until it had assurances the fund would be reformed and the fund was, in fact, overhauled.)
We’ll soon see if TVA follows the ghost of Jim Shaw and carries out its threat, regardless of the rules. The NHL Playoffs start Wednesday, April 10.
