Mobile TV is not a broadcast distribution service: CNOC

Mobile-TV services, such as that offered by BCE Inc.'s Bell Mobility subsidiary, are not broadcast distribution services, critics said in final reply letters that were due this week in a case before the CRTC regarding the legality of exempting those services from customers’ regular data caps. Bell had argued that its Bell Mobile TV service is a distinct broadcast distribution business in its initial reply to a complaint by telecom blogger Ben Klass. Klass had said that Bell gives its mobile-TV service an “undue preference” over other online video services by allowing BCE’s mobile subscribers to watch videos on the service without it counting against their monthly data cap. That proceeding was later combined with complaints by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) against mobile-TV services offered by Rogers Communications Inc. and Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron subsidiary. In a letter filed Monday, the Canadian Network Operators’ Consortium (CNOC) said that a provider’s wireless services operate separately from its broadcasting services, and as such “are not part of its broadcasting undertaking.” CNOC referred to a Supreme Court ruling that decided that Internet service providers (ISPs) “do not carry on ‘broadcasting undertakings’ under the Broadcasting Act when, in their role as ISPs, they merely provide access through the Internet to ‘broadcasting’ requested by end-users.” In his final reply letter Monday, Klass argued that the definition of a broadcasting distribution undertaking does not include services to mobile devices. He noted that under the Broadcasting Act, “a distribution undertaking ‘means an undertaking for the reception of broadcasting and the retransmission thereof by radio waves or other means of telecommunication to more than one permanent or temporary residence or dwelling unit or another such undertaking.’ ” Klass added that “an ISP which provides access to broadcasting services over the Internet is not itself a broadcaster, but acts solely in the capacity of a common carrier.” That, he said, means Bell Mobile TV is a telecommunications service and falls under the Telecommunications Act. Telecom analyst Jean-Francois Mezei of Vaxination Informatique wrote in his reply that “even if the mobile TV packets originate from a broadcasting endeavour and contain broadcasting content … once they enter a telecommunications service, they become data packets that must be treated in an agnostic fashion.” In its final reply, filed Monday, Bell reiterated its argument that when it comes to its Mobile TV service, “Bell Mobility is a Broadcasting Undertaking (BU) providing a broadcasting service. In contrast, when making available wireless data connectivity used by subscribers to view programming services, like Netflix and YouTube, wirelessly, we are a telecommunications common carrier (TCC) providing a telecommunications service.” It said that as a result, there is no undue preference because the pricing for a broadcasting service cannot be compared to the pricing for a telecommunications service. “Just as it is acceptable for a traditional BDU to price its distribution service differently from its … Internet service in the wireline world, so too is this permissible in the wireless environment at issue here,” it said. Bell made similar arguments in a previous filing. Rogers has argued that its flat-rate, mobile-TV service should be allowed because it is a service that is still in development and its $5 monthly fee “simply reflects the low consumer demand that currently exists for the service.” Quebecor said mobile TV “is an emerging market characterized by the experimentation in terms of availability of content, content assembly, marketing techniques, as well as pricing policies and billing.” Quebecor, though, said it is considering changing its mobile-TV application to be available through a variety of different services besides Videotron. — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca

Mobile TV is not a broadcast distribution service: CNOC

Broadcast | May 13, 2014

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Mobile TV is not a broadcast distribution service: CNOC

Broadcast | May 13, 2014

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