GATINEAU – In a complaint filed with the CRTC on February 27th, Quebecor alleges that Bell Canada is conferring undue preference and disadvantage when distributing RDS, Bell Media’s French sport channel in a different way than Quebecor’s own TVA Sports.
(Perhaps this is what Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau was referring to in his Op-Ed here last week.)
According to the complaint letter, TVA Sports is NOT offered in Bell TV’s “Good” tier, where it carries RDS, which in its eyes constitutes a clear case of undue preference which is not allowed as stated in Section 9 of CRTC’s Broadcasting Distribution Regulations.
- Section 9 states that “(1) No licensee shall give an undue preference to any person, including itself, or subject any person to an undue disadvantage.
- (2) In any proceedings before the Commission, the burden of establishing that any preference or disadvantage is not undue is on the licensee that gives the preference or subjects the person to the disadvantage.”
The “Good” package is the most popular package Bell TV offers to customers and has been in place since March 2016.
In a letter sent on February 4th to Bell, Quebecor requested TVA Sports be included in the “Good” tier. Bell replied that this placement was part of the previous agreement and that negotiations were presently underway to replace that agreement and therefore, Quebecor should make its representations in that context instead.
This not the first time where the Commission had to arbitrate between Quebecor and TVA on the issue of TVA Sports. In May 2015 and in January 2018, the Commission has ruled in favour of Bell in both Final Arbitration process.
Bell’s reply is due on April 8th.
