AS THE DEADLINE APPROACHES for submissions in the CRTC's hearing to examine our plan to unite Astral and Bell Media, competitors are already revving up their rhetoric.
Last week in a blog post, Telus's director of regulatory affairs, Anne Mainville-Neeson, road-tested the company's lines on why "vertical integration in the broadcasting industry can be harmful.” This position conveniently overlooks the fact that the federal Competition Bureau has comprehensively reviewed and cleared the proposed Astral-Bell Media transaction, and that the CRTC is of course conducting its own comprehensive analysis.
It also ignores the fact that the CRTC already has a very comprehensive set of vertical integration rules in place to ensure fair play in the industry, rules that are working as they were intended. And, it completely contradicts Telus's own praise for those rules in the past as "a complete affirmation of the consumer's right to access content on any screen without being forced to switch to a more costly service."
Last week, in fact just the day before its blog posting, Telus again reiterated its praise for the regulatory framework. According to the National Post, "two major factors are on Telus's side when it comes to buying content… the economics of the media business and the regulatory framework". The Post's source for such a categorical statement: David Fuller, chief marketing officer of Telus. According to Mr. Fuller, vertically integrated companies such as Bell "have been crystal clear that they want wide distribution of their assets" and "rules around withholding are very black and white."
In defending Telus's decision not to invest in media, Mr. Fuller believes that the CRTC's rules give vertically integrated companies like Bell absolutely no advantage. Indeed the Post claims the regulatory framework offers a broadcast distributor like Telus every advantage.
So where Ms. Mainville-Neeson in the Telus regulatory department sees "harm" and "abuse" in things like "unreasonably long negotiations," Mr. Fuller in the Telus marketing department sees distribution decisions driven by customer demand and fair pricing, an altogether friendlier future.
Bell firmly believes in the benefits of vertical integration. It has opened up new investment in Canadian content and culture. It has created new content for TV viewers and radio listeners, and new opportunities for Canadian writers, directors, producers and performers. Most importantly, and fundamental to how vertical integration evolved as the industry standard, it has provided much needed stability to Canadian TV networks and the broadcasting system.
Canadian content requires an ecosystem to foster, produce and distribute programming that Canadian – and increasingly global – audiences love to watch. It requires investment and innovation. It requires passion. Bell has that passion. That's why we joined with CTV. It's why we've invested massively in Bell Media. And it's why we want to join up with a great Canadian content champion like Astral.
The Bell Media team is dedicated to creating, improving and expanding the news, entertainment and sports content Canadians value so much. We're intensely proud of what we produce, and ascribe to it a value based directly on what we put into it and the viewer's response to and demand for it. We are dedicated to ensuring our content is seen by as many Canadians as possible on as many platforms as they want, based on negotiated, fair market pricing.
We look forward to our upcoming CRTC hearing, and the opportunity to convey our vision of the benefits a united Astral and Bell Media will bring to TV viewers, radio listeners and the Canadian broadcasting ecosystem.
