PIAC launches complaint against Videotron music service

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) is asking the CRTC to direct Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron to change the price structure of its new music service, which exempts data consumed through some music streaming apps from data caps. Videotron “favours its own mobile service by making it more attractive and less expensive to use at the expense of all other use and in particular any other non-covered audio content, streamed or otherwise,” PIAC said in a Part 1 complaint filed Tuesday. Videotron introduced the service, called Unlimited Music, last week. It allows Videotron’s mobile customers to listen to music streaming offered by Stingray Digital Group Inc., Google Inc.’s Google Play, Deezer and Spotify AB without incurring data charges. It’s available to customers who subscribe to Videotron’s Canada-wide plans with at least 2 GB of data, or to packages that include both Internet and mobile service with at least 1 GB of data. PIAC argued that price structure contravenes the Telecommunications Act, the CRTC’s Internet traffic-management practices and a decision the commission made in January involving BCE Inc.’s mobile-TV service. In that case, the CRTC ruled that Bell and Videotron, by exempting content consumed through their mobile-TV services from regular data caps, had given an undue preference to their own customers and their own content, and ordered them both to cease the practice. Bell chose to challenge the decision in court, while Videotron said at the time of the decision it was already in the process of switching over to a different pricing model. In the application filed Tuesday, PIAC argued that Videotron is “subject to the Telecommunications Act and policies made pursuant to that Act, including subsection 27(2) of that Act which forbids undue preference and unjust discrimination.” It said the structure of the Unlimited Music service subjects Videotron subscribers who consume content through services that are subject to data caps “to an undue and unreasonable disadvantage.” PIAC also argued that the billing structure of the plan “subjects their lower-tier subscribers to penalties, in the form of potential data charges for consumption of music streaming services, for not moving to higher tier packages,” and that it “unjustly discriminates against competing wireless service providers who adhere to the Commission’s ruling in Mobile TV.” It added that “competing music streaming service providers who wish to offer their services to 702,900 wireless customers and customers who wish to consume in a similar manner music streaming services from a different service provider face a significant price difference, therefore impairing competition.” PIAC told the CRTC that if it allows Videotron to continue the practice, “the rest of the Canadian telecommunications industry” would “immediately” launch similar offers. “The result would be to undercut subsection 27(2) of the Telecommunications Act, compromise the Commission’s policy in respect of internet practice management practices, and result in telecommunications service providers influencing and even controlling the online services which Canadians can access,” the organization said. When asked about net-neutrality concerns last week, Myrianne Collin, Videotron’s senior vice-president of strategy and marketing, responded the new music service is different from the mobile-TV case because Videotron is partnering with various services. “We are not favouring one platform over the other. All the platforms are welcome, and as a matter of fact, all the big players are already partnering with us in this offer. So I don’t see any regulatory issue with it,” she said in an interview. Videotron said in an emailed statement Tuesday that PIAC’s complaint is “without foundation. Videotron is not conferring an undue preference on itself or anyone else.” It added: “Participation in the Unlimited Music service is open to all legal and authorized streaming service providers, and Videotron is not receiving any compensation from any provider. This popular, democratic service is already receiving a great response from consumers, and we are confident the CRTC will see it as a fine example of innovation and diversification is the competitive mobile marketplace. At the end of the day, Videotron’s customers greatly benefit from not worrying about its data usage.” Tamir Israel, a lawyer with the Samuel-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), said in an email that Videotron’s claim that it is open to all “legal and commercial” music services, as the company says on its website, means the company is discriminating against non-commercial streaming apps, “placing an entire class of streaming capacities at a disadvantage.” “Even 'legal' is a qualifier that is fraught with problems in this context. At any given point, there are numerous streaming services that are in a grey 'legal' area, an area that becomes increasingly greyer when you take into account global regional variations in copyright laws,” he said. That includes services like the now-defunct Grooveshark, which reached agreements with some music labels while fighting in court with others, or services that aren’t officially available in Canada. “Videotron has now placed itself in the unenviable position of having to decide which of these applications are 'legal' and which are not,” Israel said. “By taking on this mantle, Videotron is opening itself up to potential liability if it chooses to include a 'grey' service that is found to be illegal in the end. On the other hand, it is discriminating against any 'grey' service that is ultimately found to be legal.” Allen Mendelsohn, an independent Internet lawyer in Montreal, said in a phone interview the mobile-TV decision was a narrow one because it was based on subsection 27(2) in the Telecom Act, and that it's likely the CRTC will reach a similar decision in Videotron’s case, based on the same subsection. “But I don’t think it’ll be the grand, great statement that a lot of us are waiting for,” he said. The type of "grand" statement net-neutrality advocates would like, he said, would prohibit telecom providers from favouring a consumer or company under any circumstances in the provision of its services, and prohibit any kind of advantage or disadvantage, not only an undue or unreasonable one, as specified in the Telecom Act, he said. In response to whether the decision will clarify what the rules are in Canada around zero rating, or the practice of exempting some websites or apps from data caps, Mendelsohn said that “the CRTC is always trying to limit the scope of their decisions to the facts and issue at hand. So I think they’re not going to start sticking their toe in the water, so to speak, of much broader issues.” — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca

PIAC launches complaint against Videotron music service

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PIAC launches complaint against Videotron music service

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