OTTAWA — The Federal Court of Appeal today decided it will hear on January 24 the Competition Bureau’s appeal of the decision by the Competition Tribunal to reject its challenge of the Rogers acquisition of Shaw.
The court and the parties in the matter landed on the date after a 1 hour and 15 minute case management conference today.
The bureau filed a court challenge the day after the tribunal released its decision on Thursday. It obtained the temporary emergency suspension of the decision until the Federal Court decides on the matter.
The tribunal released reasons for its determination…
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Federal Court of Appeal holding conference today on hearing issues
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – In approving the Rogers and Shaw combination, the Competition Tribunal said the evidence shows Freedom under Videotron “would not in fact have a smaller scale” as opposed to its ownership under Shaw.
“Videotron will have more revenue, more wireless subscribers across the country, and more spectrum,” the tribunal said in its reasons for approving the deal released yesterday, which follows its announced decision on Thursday night.
“In addition, Videotron’s national presence will give it the ability to offer new incentives to businesses that operate nationally,”…
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OTTAWA — The Competition Bureau said this evening that it has obtained from the Federal Court of Appeal a temporary suspension of the tribunal’s decision last week that denied its application to stop the merger between Rogers and Shaw.
The bureau filed an application in the Federal Court of Appeal seeking to have the decision reviewed, the day after the tribunal ruled within 15 days since the conclusion of hearings that a Videotron with Freedom mobile wireless assets would create competition in the market and that the Rogers-Shaw combination would not lessen it.
The bureau said in a…
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OTTAWA — The competition commissioner will appeal the decision by Competition Tribunal Thursday dismissing the watchdog’s application to block the merger between Rogers and Shaw.
The commissioner, which said the sale of Freedom to Quebecor was not a good enough concession for wireless competition in the country, said the office has filed a notice of appeal at the Federal Court of Appeal on Friday.
In a joint statement following the filing, Rogers and Shaw said they are “deeply disappointed” by the news.
“The Tribunal’s decision was the right one, and the Tribunal was clear in its summary that the transactions we have…
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Competition Bureau “considering our next steps”
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Canada’s competition court has dismissed an application by the Competition Bureau to block the merger between Rogers and Shaw, leaving only approval from Innovation Canada in the way of the blockbuster $26-billion deal.
The deal involves the sale of Shaw’s Freedom Mobile brand to Quebecor’s Videotron, which the competition commissioner had argued in his application was not satisfactory to allay competition concerns.
But the tribunal did not agree, saying the deal’s components and compromises “are not likely to prevent or lessen competition substantially,” the Thursday decision said.
In fact, the tribunal said it…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC said today it has selected the wholesale rate proposed by WildBrain for Rogers to carry its discretionary channels.
“With regards to rates paid by non-Rogers BDUs for the Services, the Commission considers that both offers are competitive,” the commission said in its decision. “Factoring in the ownership composition of the market for Canadian linear youth and children’s services and the Commission’s related public policy objectives, the Commission finds that WildBrain’s offer better reflects the Service’s relative market value.”
Rogers filed an application this summer for the commission to initiate a final offer arbitration process after the two…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – A lawyer for Shaw Communications argued before the Competition Tribunal today that the competition commissioner “exaggerated” Freedom’s success during testimony, saying Shaw’s wireless subsidiary was over the last five years hobbled by market competition and federal government pricing promises.
The thesis of Kent Thomson’s argument today was that Shaw could not and cannot compete in today’s market, hence why it must combine with Rogers. Thomson noted that Telus, Shaw’s west coast rival, has greatly outspent the Calgary-based company by $7 billion over the last handful of years.
In pushing against suggestions that Shaw and Freedom have successfully…
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TORONTO — Corus Entertainment announced today its multi-channel streaming service StackTV is expanding with the addition of Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD, starting today.
The three kids’ channels offer hundreds of episodes and live streaming of new content. Some of the titles now available on StackTV include Mickey Mouse Funhouse, Marvel’s Spidey and His Amazing Friends, Marvel’s Avengers: Black Panther’s Quest, DuckTales, The Ghost and Molly McGee, Raven’s Home, and The Villains of Valley View.
New premieres will be added monthly, including season seven of Disney Channel’s live-action series Bunk’d, as well as Marvel’s Moon Girl, Devil Dinosaur, and Disney Junior’s Star Wars: Young…
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Regional carriers say no conflict with ISED’s spectrum licensing rules
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC’s decision last spring to mandate seamless roaming between networks should be struck down because the technical configurations of such a requirement falls exclusively in the domain of the Radiocommunications Act administered by Innovation Canada (ISED), the large telecoms argued today.
The regulator’s April 2021 decision, which broadly mandated wholesale access by regional players to the large wireless networks, also included the requirement that the host network ensure that calls are not dropped when the user on one network is switched to another when roaming. It…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Canada’s largest telecoms argued before the Federal Court of Appeal today that the CRTC was wrong when it ruled in its mobile wireless review last year that it did not have jurisdiction to address issues related to wireless access to municipal infrastructure.
The case stems from an August 2021 appeal by Telus against parts of the CRTC’s wireless review decision, which approved mandatory wholesale access to the large networks by regional service providers with facilities and spectrum.
But in the CRTC’s April 2021 decision, it also refused to wade into the issue of wireless…
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