Bell Media Hails CRTC Ruling on Carriage Offer for Platforms

TORONTO: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is backing Bell Media’s final offer to a group of independent pay-TV platforms, following a dispute over the terms of a carriage deal for a portfolio of specialty channels.

The Canadian Independent Distributors Group (CIDG) represents the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance, Cogeco Cable and MTS, among others. The CDIG had argued to the CRTC that Bell’s offer did not provide any flexibility in terms of distribution and packaging of the 29 channels, and featured stringent penetration requirements. "CIDG submitted that the proposed affiliation agreement ensures revenues for the Bell services while making CIDG members assume the risk of avoiding any decrease in subscriber penetration. CIDG also argued that Bell Media has just as much of a role to play in ensuring high subscription levels as the BDUs that package and distribute the services."

CRTC issued its decision after both parties agreed to final offer arbitration. CRTC has backed Bell Media’s so-called "flexible-pricing model."
Kevin Crull, the president of Bell Media, noted, "Today marks a significant victory for consumer choice and packaging flexibility in Canada. The CRTC has sent a very clear signal that it supports carriage arrangements that will deliver more packaging flexibility to consumers, while allowing programming services to seek market-established rates to ensure their financial viability. The CRTC’s endorsement of the well-understood commercial principle that the more subscribers a cable company delivers for a service, the lower its per unit costs will be, will ensure the stability of Canada’s broadcasting industry, including the production community, and will ultimately be of great benefit to consumers. With this decision, Canada will maintain its position as a world leader in providing consumers with both a wide array of programming choices as well as packaging flexibility, all at affordable rates."

In its decision on the deal—the terms of which are confidential—the CRTC said: "The Commission recognized the importance of providing consumers with more choice and flexibility in the services to which they can subscribe, while at the same time providing them with the ability to only pay for the services they want to watch."