GATINEAU — Quebecor’s Videotron continues to pursue an undue preference claim against Bell with regard to the latter’s Super Écran and how it is distributed free of charge as part of Bell Alt TV’s basic service.
However, the CRTC said in a letter Friday to Videotron and Bell that it won’t expedite the matter as requested by Videotron in a letter dated March 23.
The Quebecor-owned cable company has been pursuing its undue preference claim regarding Bell’s Super Écran since June 2019, but on March 23, 2020 it submitted a request asking the Commission to withdraw its Part 1 application dated June 14, 2019 and to expedite a new Part 1 application that essentially makes the same arguments as its original complaint. Videotron asks in its letter the Commission add previously filed documents (Bell and Videotron’s original September 18, 2019 replies to the Commission’s request for information in the original application process) to Videotron’s new application.
In a letter dated May 1, the Commission said it accepts Videotron’s request to add the previous documents to the new application process. However, the Commission rejected the request to expedite the application “given the Commission’s recent decision to extend most of its public processes during the exceptional circumstances surrounding Covid-19.”
It should be noted the CRTC’s letter went on to urge the companies to solve their problems on their own. “Commission staff reminds the parties that the Commission considers that it would be more appropriate to address these types of issues in the context of negotiations between parties, during which they could resolve the dispute bilaterally or with the help of staff-assisted mediation.”
The public documents currently filed as part of Videotron’s new Part 1 application can be found here.
