Distributors challenge Bell’s confidential information in carriage dispute

A group of independent broadcast distributors is challenging Bell Media’s request to keep key pieces of information confidential as the two sides head into CRTC mediation over stalled carriage negotiations. In a letter to the commission Feb. 24, the Canadian Independent Distributors Group (CIDG)—which represents Bragg Communications Inc., the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA), Cogeco Cable Inc., MTS Inc. and Telus Communications Co.—said Bell Media (owned by BCE Inc.) did not provide enough details for an evaluation of the company’s latest offer. That offer, put forward in Bell's Feb. 21 letter to the commission, proposed to allow CIDG members to repackage Bell’s specialty channels into subscriber packages with lower penetration rates if they pay a monthly fee to do so. The CIDG said Bell is not providing enough information about the proposal to move to services to lower penetration rates or the corresponding monthly fees. Under the model, Bell proposed one example rate card for its Discovery Channel service, but not for its other 28 channels, the letter said. Bell and the CIDG are headed into closed-door CRTC mediation starting March 8. If the meetings fail to resolve the dispute, a CRTC expedited hearing is scheduled for Mar. 22 to address all issues except the wholesale rates, which would be determined later by final offer arbitration. In its letter, the CIDG asked the commission to release other information Bell seeks to keep confidential, including the number of subscribers to each of its 29 specialty channels, Bell's “minimum penetration requirements” for the carriage of its sports channels, and other market information. “To properly evaluate Bell’s counter-offer, CIDG requires a realistic opportunity to assess the financial and other implications for all CIDG members and their respective systems,” the group wrote in its letter to the CRTC. “It will not be possible to do this if CIDG is to be provided with this information only on the day of the Mandatory Mediation,” the letter said. The group questioned Bell’s statement that it has reached renewal agreements to carry its channels with 159 of 164 distributors across the country. Bell says these agreements established a market rate for its channels. “CIDG submits that the total count of BDUs that have signed relative to the number of BDUs in Canada, as stated by Bell Media … cannot be reconciled with publicly available information,” the CIDG wrote. In a emailed statement to The Wire Report, Michael Hennessy, senior vice-president of regulatory and government affairs at Telus, questioned how Bell determined it has agreements with 159 distributors. Hennessy estimated that about 99 per cent of all television subscribers receive their TV services from Bell, Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc., Quebecor Media Inc., the CIDG members (including members of the CCSA), or SaskTel. “But who are these 150 plus BDUs that make up only the remaining 1% of the market?” Hennessy asked. He said the CCSA, which has not signed an agreeement to carry Bell's channels, represents 114 broadcast distributors, and "if you think about it these numbers don’t seem to add up." Scott Henderson, vice-president of communications at Bell Media, told The Wire Report in an emailed statement that confidentially agreements prevent the company from disclosing the names of the majority of those distributors. “e absolutely stand by our statement that we have agreements with 159 out of 164 BDUs, or 97% of the BDUs in the country,” he wrote. “hese agreements are confidential, but have been provided to the CRTC.” nkyonka@thewirereport.ca

Distributors challenge Bell’s confidential information in carriage dispute

Broadcast | February 27, 2012

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