MONTREAL — EBOX, an independent Internet and phone service provider in Quebec and Ontario, hasn’t yet launched its new television distribution service, but already it’s had to file a complaint against Canada’s biggest broadcaster, Bell Media, accusing the media giant of blacklisting it for competitive reasons.
The complaint, published last week by the CRTC, says that EBOX has been trying since November 2016 to negotiate carriage of Bell’s discretionary services, including TSN, Discovery, Space and Bravo. After reaching an impasse, the company asked the Commission to arbitrate a deal on five of Bell’s 24 services.
EBOX’s complaint states that after requesting this arbitration, Bell pulled out of negotiations completely and refused to have any of its services distributed by EBOX. “In these circumstances and given EBOX’s conduct, Bell Media has decided not to seek carriage of its services by them,” the letter quotes Bell as saying.
Both Bell Media and EBOX declined to comment further on the case and neither of their initial filings with the commission explains what “conduct” EBOX is accused of engaging in.
EBOX is trying to get the CRTC to rule that Bell is imposing an undue disadvantage on it by denying its services carriage. Bell, in a letter quoted in EBOX’s complaint, says “Bell Media is under no obligation to offer its services to EBOX” because, since Sept. 1, none of its services are Category A and have the must-carry requirements that go with it. EBOX counters that this lack of obligation is meant to give more flexibility to the distributor and the consumer, not the broadcaster.
Trying to launch a TV provider in Canada without Bell Media’s channels would be difficult. Launching in Quebec without its top French-language services like RDS, Canal D, Canal Vie and Vrak would be even more so.
“Refusing to offer its services wholesale to an eventual competing retailer is a behaviour universally understood to be an abuse of a dominant position,” EBOX says.
While not wanting to comment on the specifics of the case because it’s undergoing a quasi-legal proceeding, EBOX CEO Jean-Philippe Béïque told Cartt.ca that the plan was to launch TV service as a licence-exempt IPTV undertaking at the end of 2017 or early in 2018, with most of the work done at a cost of “several million dollars” and some “details” left to arrange. “We’re very close to launch” in Quebec’s markets of Montreal, Quebec City, Gatineau, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières and Saguenay, covering almost all of EBOX’s current telecom footprint.
He wouldn’t say whether they would launch without Bell’s discretionary channels, but said doing so would be “very problematic” and “would penalize the consumer.”
Bell’s initial letter in the file says only that “we do not consider that our actions have subjected EBOX to an undue disadvantage, nor to Bell Media an undue advantage.”
The commission has expedited the public process and will accept interventions until Oct. 10. The deadline for EBOX’s reply is Oct. 16.
