MONTRÉAL, April 10, 2019 /CNW
Telbec/ - Bell announced that the Canadian Radio-television
and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today issued a legally
binding decision confirming that Quebecor must continue to make its
TVA Sports channel available to Bell TV customers.
Despite an earlier CRTC directive issued Monday requiring the
cable and media company to continue to provide TVA Sports to Bell
TV and its customers, Quebecor has continued to threaten to cut off
access to the channel during the NHL playoffs, potentially
impacting hundreds of thousands of Bell TV customers.
Quebecor began its campaign by issuing a series of misleading
statements on its hockey broadcasts and other media platforms that
falsely claimed Bell itself planned to remove access to TVA Sports,
and directed Bell TV customers to switch to Quebecor's cable TV
subsidiary Videotron.
"The CRTC has made it quite clear to Quebecor that it must
comply with the law and continue to provide TVA Sports to Bell
customers who've paid for it. It's highly inappropriate for
Quebecor to make these threats to illegally deny service and in
effect take viewers hostage over a business disagreement," said
Martine Turcotte, Bell's Vice Chair,
Québec. "We've always negotiated in good faith and invite Quebecor
to do the same."
According to the CRTC's decision, Quebecor is "required to
provide" TVA Sports to Bell TV "at the same rates and on the same
terms and conditions as they did before the dispute, until the
parties resolve their dispute or the Commission issues a decision
concerning this unresolved matter."
Consistent with the CRTC's procedures, Bell this morning filed a
request with the CRTC to resolve the dispute by way of final offer
arbitration.
As part of its demands, Quebecor is pressing Bell TV to pay more
to carry its TVA Sports channel than Quebecor/Videotron pays Bell
Media for the RDS sports network – despite the fact that RDS is the
consistent leader in the French-language sports TV marketplace by
far. Last year, RDS had 67% more viewers on average than TVA
Sports.
About Bell
Founded in Montréal in 1880, Bell is
Canada's largest communications company, providing advanced
broadband wireless, Internet, TV, media and other communication
services to consumers and business customers throughout the
country, and a proud partner of the Montreal Canadiens and their
home, the Bell Centre.
The Bell Let's Talk initiative promotes Canadian mental health
with national awareness and anti-stigma campaigns like Bell Let's
Talk Day and significant Bell funding of community care and access,
research and workplace leadership initiatives across the country.
To learn more, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk.
Bell is wholly owned by BCE Inc. (TSX. NYSE: BCE). To learn
more, please visit Bell.ca or BCE.ca.
SOURCE Bell Canada