CRTC order on NFL, NHL content violated Copyright Act: Bell

The CRTC infringed the Copyright Act last year when it ordered BCE Inc. to explain how it would make exclusive NHL and NFL mobile sports content available to competitor Telus Corp., BCE said in court documents. “As owners of these copyrights, the NHL and NFL have a number of exclusive rights under the Copyright Act, including the right to perform and communicate live television productions to the public, the right to produce them, and the exclusive and distinct right to authorize others to do any or all of these activities,” Bell wrote, adding that the productions are protected under the Copyright Act as “dramatic works.” Bell is challenging the CRTC order issued in December 2011—which the commission later dropped—in an attempt to overturn the regulator's use of a “reverse onus” rule in its process for complaints about anti-competitive practices. The reverse onus rule “breached Bell's right to procedural fairness,” Bell said in a memorandum of fact filed Nov. 9, because it required Bell to “prove a negative” and disprove a complaint from Telus that Bell's exclusive NFL and NHL mobile content put the competing telco at an “undue disadvantage.” When the commission dropped its order against Bell in February 2012, it acknowledged that Bell's exclusive deal with the NHL had expired and that its agreement with the NFL did not permit the company to sub-license the content. Bell said the CRTC erred when it said Bell's exclusive offering of NFL games on mobile gave it a competitive advantage in mobile services. The company said there are many types of video content besides football and hockey that may serve as a primary driver in the mobile video market. “iewers are likely to watch important prime time playoff NFL or NHL games on large television sets, not small mobile devices like blackberrys,” Bell wrote. Telus said in a memorandum of fact filed Dec. 12 that the court should dismiss the appeal. It said the CRTC ordered Bell to to produce a report, not authorize Telus' access to the content, and that “the appeal is moot.” The docket number is A-152-12 filed with the Federal Court of Appeal. —With reporting by Simon Doyle at sdoyle@thewirereport.ca and editing by Nicholas Kyonka at nkyonka@thewirereport.ca news@thewirereport.ca

CRTC order on NFL, NHL content violated Copyright Act: Bell

Broadcast | December 19, 2012

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CRTC order on NFL, NHL content violated Copyright Act: Bell

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