Bell complaint could thwart Rogers’ hockey strategy: analyst

Notwithstanding Guy Lawrence's recent remarks about rival BCE Inc. being a "crybaby," a market analyst says Rogers Communications Inc.’s strategy for NHL streaming could be affected by Bell's recent CRTC complaint. The analysis follows last week’s complaint by Bell that Rogers is contravening rules against making content exclusive for subscribers of certain services by offering a free trial of NHL GameCentre Live only to Rogers' Internet and mobile customers until the new year, and making the GamePlus extras available only to those who have GameCentre and subscribe to Rogers' Internet, wireless, television or home-phone services. During a conference call last Thursday, Rogers CEO Laurence called Bell a "crybaby" for making the complaint. Phillip Huang, a telecom analyst with Barclays Capital, said in a research note Monday that the matter "will force the CRTC to take a clearer position" on rules governing how companies with both media and telecom businesses treat content intended primarily for online or mobile viewing. He said that while the commission implemented regulations in recent years to ensure Canadians "have similar access to content regardless of the service provider they choose ... the applications of these restrictions are currently less clear when it comes to content that is produced primarily for consumption online or over mobile." Huang said that while the amount of content produced primarily for new-media platforms "has been very limited ... the regulator appears to be primarily concerned with vertical integration potentially creating unequal access to content for Canadians." Huang speculated that with hockey being so important to Canadians, there is "pressure on the CRTC to side with protecting consumers’ access to content (and BCE in this case)." He added that Rogers might modify its NHL strategy ahead of any CRTC ruling on the matter. For instance, it might broaden the availability of its online and mobile streaming services for NHL games, Huang said. "As such, we believe BCE’s complaint to the CRTC could raise the risk of potential disruption and lower the effectiveness of Rogers’ strategy to leverage hockey," Huang said. When asked for comment on the likelihood Rogers would change course on its hockey products that are subject to the complaint, spokeswoman Patricia Trott said in an email: "We’re confident that we’re in compliance with the rules and we’ll continue to focus on delivering innovation to customers." There are precedents for Rogers changing policies that are subject to proceedings before a regulatory decision is made. For example, the company recently ended its Rogers Next program, which allowed mobile customers to pay an extra fee for the option of upgrading to another smartphone after one year on contract with subsidies on their previous phone waived. The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and Consumers' Association of Canada had complained to the CRTC that the upgrade program violated provisions of the wireless code against activities that make it difficult to change carriers. As well, Rogers changed policies on its Anyplace TV mobile app in that data used for the service now counts against customers' data caps. Rogers, Bell and Quebecor Inc. had been subject to an undue-preference complaint before the CRTC for not counting data used in the mobile-TV apps against allowances provisioned for in their contracts. Ben Klass, the telecom blogger who launched the mobile-TV case against the Bell, which was later combined with complaints made against Rogers and Quebecor by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), said "Bell's got a point in this case ." He added: "The primary issue here is related to a company that owns the primary distribution channel and that owns the content trying to leverage that to its exclusive benefit." Klass added that Rogers might change policy on its NHL products to avoid a situation where the CRTC is forcing it to do something, though he added: "It becomes problematic if these companies are testing the boundaries without consequence." — With reporting by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca and editing by Peter Henderson at phenderson@thewirereport.ca

Bell complaint could thwart Rogers’ hockey strategy: analyst

Broadcast | October 27, 2014

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