VMedia fighting to keep CTV, CTV2 on OTT service

VMedia Inc. is asking an Ontario court to step in and declare that its recently launched over-the-top (OTT) streaming television service is not infringing copyright, as claimed by BCE Inc., which wants the provider to remove its CTV and CTV Two networks from its service. In an application filed Monday with the Ontario Superior Court, the Toronto-based independent provider argued that its live-TV streaming service for customers with Roku Inc. devices is permitted under the Copyright Act. “As a licenced BDU, VMedia is not only entitled—but required— to retransmit local and regional over-the-air services such as the channels that comprise the CTV and CTV2 networks,” the application said. At issue is whether the OTT service falls under VMedia’s broadcast distribution licence. Bell claims that it does not, and as such, the retransmission of its network through the service violates Bell’s copyright. VMedia launched the service at the centre of the dispute last month, where for $17.95 it offers its skinny-basic package of up to 20 channels, wherever VMedia TV is available, to Canadians regardless of their Internet Service Provider (ISP). Within days of its Sept. 16 launch, VMedia heard from Bell Media requesting that its CTV and CTV Two channels be removed from the service, court documents said. The two companies went back and forth, before a Sept. 29 phone call, which was followed by a letter from Kevin Assaff, Bell Media’s senior vice-president of legal and business affairs, demanding that “VMedia immediately cease distributing or retransmitting any of Bell Media’s broadcast signals, services, or copyrighted programs in connection” with its OTT service. The letter also said that if the removal wasn’t “done by 11:59pm eastern time on September 30, 2016, Bell Media intends to take further action to protect its rights and in any event reserves the right to take any and all actions that may be available to protect its rights and receive compensation for their infringement.” In an email, Bell Media spokesperson Emily Young Lee reiterated that “VMedia is distributing CTV and CTV Two signals outside of its licenced broadcast business and without Bell Media's consent. It’s a clear copyright violation and we asked them to stop. They refused, so we’re asking for a court injunction to end the copyright infringement.” VMedia co-founder George Burger said in a phone interview the opposition surprised him and that he didn’t understand “why they would try to look for some kind of really esoteric argument on why we’re not allowed to carry this when it’s to everybody’s benefit. It’s totally win-win.” Among the benefits Burger noted was that viewers would be watching CTV live, unable to fast-forward past commercials. VMedia obtains “no economic advantage” over Bell, nor is Bell losing out on any money since they wouldn’t be entitled to any revenue from the over-the-air channels, Burger added. He said that since the service’s launch, “thousands of people” have signed up for the free trial and that many people who are signing up are cord cutters. “It’s proven to be very popular with the people who have left the broadcasting system. Our view is that this is really a crucial innovation in order to try and bring people back, to be able to bring linear TV to them, live TV to them, on a platform that they’re used to, that they like, they’re accustomed to now, which is essentially online streaming services,” Burger said. Of the specified reasons laid out in its Sept. 29 letter, Bell said that VMedia’s service isn’t offered “over a private managed network, does not use an Internet connection offered by VMedia or its agent, and does not distribute all services licensed for mandatory carriage as part of the basic services” under the Broadcasting Act. By stepping away from that managed network and not linking its OTT TV service to its Internet service, VMedia threatens the traditional business model, Burger noted. “And it may mean the big companies might lose some subscribers or the big companies might have to change the way they do business. But that’s how you spell competition,” he said. “And to try to keep somebody from providing an alternative is anti-competitive.” — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

VMedia fighting to keep CTV, CTV2 on OTT service

Broadcast | October 3, 2016

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VMedia fighting to keep CTV, CTV2 on OTT service

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