Astral files competition complaint over Videotron’s on-demand TV service

Astral Media Inc. filed a complaint against Quebecor Media Inc.’s new illico Club Unlimited on-demand video service, arguing that it violates CRTC regulations by competing directly with Astral’s pay TV channel Super Écran. In a six-page complaint filed with the CRTC Wednesday, Astral said the new Videotron service, which launched last week, violates the CRTC’s regulations for video on-demand services. Those rules prohibit subscription video on-demand packages if they compete directly with a linear TV channel. Last week, Quebecor telecom division Videotron announced that its new illico Club Unlimited subscription service would be available online and through an Android mobile application for $10 per month in Quebec and Ontario. The illico Club Unlimited service would offer a regularly updated catalogue of movies, television services, children’s programs, documentaries, comedy shows and concerts, mostly in French, Quebecor said. Astral said the package is also available through Videotron’s video-on-demand TV service. “We submit that by offering illico Club Unlimited through its video on-demand platform, as it is a video on-demand subscription service, directly competes with Category A pay TV service Super Écran,” Nathalie Dorval, vice-president of regulatory affairs and copyright at Astral, wrote in the complaint. “It is imperative to act quickly because the illico Club Unlimited service is offered via Videotron’s video on-demand platform and will cause irreparable harm to pay TV service Super Écran, being directly competitive with it,” Dorval said. CRTC decision 2011-59 said broadcasters cannot offer “a Canadian package that is directly competitive with a genre-protected Canadian linear pay or specialty service, unless the package is an on-demand extension of this Canadian linear pay or specialty service.” Manon Brouillette, president of Videotron’s consumer market, said in a phone interview Thursday that the new service does not compete with Super Écran. She said it does not operate in the same way as a pay TV service and that it offers different content. “It’s a total surprise for us,” she said, referring to the complaint. She said the window of availability for Super Écran’s content is nine months following the theatrical release, while Club Unlimited titles are available 18 months or 24 months later. “We have content that was on the air in 1960 and the most recent is up to 2010-2011,” she said. “So it has nothing to do with Super Écran’s window. I don’t see how it can affect them.” Brouillette said Videotron, as a TV provider, is a broadcast distributor of Super Écran, with many subscribers using it. “They like the product,” she said. “So why would we do that? It’s revenue that we still want to have.” Brouillette said it is “very important” for Videotron to be compliant with its licence and that the company’s mission with Club Unlimited was to give consumers a service like that of Netflix Inc. while featuring Canadian, French-language content. Brouillette could not comment on the number of subscribers to Videotron’s Club Unlimited though she said the reaction has been “tremendous.” She said that during the commission’s hearing on BCE Inc.’s proposed $3.38-billion acquisition of Astral in September, those companies announced plans to launch a similar over-the-top TV service that would compete with Netflix. On Sept. 10, 2012, Bell’s president and CEO George Cope said the proposed on-demand service would make Canadian and international content available from Astral’s channels HBO Canada and The Movie Network (TMN), as well as news, entertainment and sports programming from Bell- and Astral-owned broadcasting services. The CRTC blocked the Bell-Astral deal on Oct. 18 over concerns of Bell’s market power and competition. The companies have since reapplied and another hearing is expected before summer. “They want to do it, but others cannot?” Brouillette said, referring to online TV services. Olivier Racette, adviser of corporate communications at Astral, said by phone Thursday that Astral would not provide further comment until the complaint is made public by the CRTC. —With reporting by Danika Grenier at dgrenier@thewirereport.ca and editing by Simon Doyle at sdoyle@thewirereport.ca

Astral files competition complaint over Videotron’s on-demand TV service

Broadcast | March 1, 2013

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