CRTC suspends proceeding against Shomi, CraveTV

The CRTC has suspended the proceeding initiated the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and Consumers' Association of Canada (CAC) against video-streaming services CraveTV and Shomi. CRTC dispute resolution manager Tandy Yull said in a letter to PIAC lawyer Geoffrey White dated Friday that in "light of submissions received" since Feb. 11, the "processes are suspended until further notice." She added: "Further direction with regard to the process and timelines will be provided to parties in due course." The CRTC provided no further information beyond the text of the letter. PIAC and the CAC filed undue-preference cases against Rogers Communication Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc.'s Shomi, and BCE Inc.'s CraveTV on Feb. 6, taking issue with fact that their availability was linked with subscriptions to particular TV services in the case of CraveTV, and to TV or Internet subscriptions from Shaw or Rogers in the case of Shomi. Only a few interventions had been filed in the two cases since then, though a number of procedural arguments have been put forward over the last week from Bell Media and PIAC. Bell had asked the CRTC to dismiss the case on the grounds the commission lacks jurisdiction over what is essentially a business decision to tie availability of its CraveTV service to other subscriptions and called PIAC's complaint "frivolous." PIAC argued back that its complaint deserves a full hearing, as opposed to being shot down "in its infancy." PIAC executive director John Lawford told The Wire Report in a phone interview Friday that's its unclear why the CRTC halted the proceeding, though he's encouraged that it appears to be a temporary measure. "I presume that they are in possession of a couple of rounds of procedural requests and wrangling, so they need some time to sit down and consider the arguments on both sides," Lawford said. The CRTC could be poised to issue a decision related to its Let's Talk TV process that has relevance to this complaint, he added. "You never know; it might be pick-and-pay next or something," Lawford said. "I don't know if that affects . It's just speculation on my part." Jean-Francois Mezei, Montreal-area telecom consultant with Vaxination Informatique, also said the suspension might be related to a pending decision related the CRTC's review of the TV industry. "How these two services are regulated or not depends on definition against the vertical-integration rules and the digital-media exemption order, both of which may be impacted by the upcoming decisions," Mezei said in an email. Mezei had asked that PIAC's complaints against CraveTV and Shomi be combined into one proceeding but was refused by the CRTC. The issue of online video streaming services and the regulatory exemption to digital content were not listed as topics for discussion in a working document released just ahead of September's hearing into the television industry. When asked about the topic, CRTC spokesman Denis Carmel told The Wire Report in August that “a review of the new media exemption order is not in the three-year plan.” A notice of decisions expected next week from the CRTC did not mention anything about Let's Talk TV. So far, in relation to its TV review, the CRTC has issued decisions that maintain simultaneous substitution with the exception of during the Super Bowl starting in 2017, and said broadcasters that shut down over-the-air transmitters will not be allowed to use simultaneous substitution. Bell did not provide comment by the time of publication Friday. In an email, Rogers spokeswoman Patricia Trott said: “We respect the regulatory process.” A Shaw spokesperson made a similar comment. — With reporting by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca and reporting and editing by Peter Henderson at phenderson@thewirereport.ca

CRTC suspends proceeding against Shomi, CraveTV

Broadcast | February 20, 2015

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CRTC suspends proceeding against Shomi, CraveTV

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