MONTREAL – Quebecor CEO Pierre Dion says the company is keeping its options open about the idea of becoming a national wireless player after this week’s CRTC decision on wholesale roaming.
In a press conference after the company’s annual general meeting in Montreal on Thursday, Dion said “we will continue to use a very, very disciplined process” in evaluating whether to make use of its spectrum licenses in English Canada to expand its wireless services to other provinces, or come to agreements with other players.
He said “we think that the CRTC is taking a step in the right direction” with the decision, but “we don’t know the rates yet” that Quebecor would have to pay Bell, Rogers or Telus for its clients using their networks while outside of Videotron Mobile’s coverage area.
He also wouldn’t commit to waiting until after the CRTC sets those rates in the coming year before making a decision.
Dion added the company was focused on the recent spectrum auction, which also prevented it from having any discussions with other providers such as Wind and Mobilicity about a possible acquisition or partnership. Dion said he “won’t comment on any discussions that we could have” now that this communications ban has been lifted.
Quebecor spent $18,140,646 on 700 MHz spectrum licences in Southern Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia last year and will lose them if it doesn’t start deploying within the next few years.
Another CRTC decision this week affecting Quebecor involved a CRTC arbitration with Bell over wholesale fees for TVA Sports on Bell TV for subscribers in Quebec. The Commission selected Bell’s offer in the final offer arbitration process, and while the rates were kept confidential, they will be more in line with what Videotron pays for TVA Sports and less in line with what RDS gets in wholesale fees. They will also give Bell more flexibility in packaging the service, whose rates and audience are up significantly since it acquired national rights to National Hockey League games. The channel just passed the two million subscriber mark.
“I don’t remember the last time I saw Pierre Karl.” – Pierre Dion
Quebecor told the Regulator the channel was in danger of disappearing if it chose Bell’s offer, but Dion downplayed that threat, saying it as made “weeks ago” before the NHL playoffs when the channel saw record audiences for Montreal Canadiens games.
The company’s public relations vice-president, Martin Tremblay, was visibly upset with a La Presse reporter who reported on the company’s CRTC comments, and Groupe TVA sent out a press release later Thursday denouncing the “sensationalist” and “out of context” reporting by La Presse and saying the decision “will only have a short-term impact” on the channel until its contract with Bell is up for renewal.
Pushing the pettiness even further, Quebecor Media’s official Twitter account retweeted a TVA employee suggesting the La Presse reporter was in a conflict of interest because he contributed to competitor RDS.
Speaking of testy tempers, controlling shareholder Pierre Karl Péladeau was a presence at the meeting even though the Parti Québécois leadership candidate wasn’t present to exercise his votes in person. At one point, Dion expressed appreciation for the former CEO and shareholders applauded as “Merci Pierre Karl” was shown on screen.
Neither Quebecor board chair Brian Mulroney nor Dion would directly answer questions about whether Péladeau was involved or consulted on the six major transactions Quebecor has made in the past year, including a $316-million sale of newspapers to Postmedia whose negotiations started when he was still CEO. Dion only repeated that “Pierre Karl is not involved in the activities of the company.”
Asked if the situation is awkward, having a controlling shareholder who is informally but not formally barred from having any management input, Mulroney said “it is what it is” and that Péladeau “has been very good in not interfering at all.”
Added Dion: “I don’t remember the last time I saw Pierre Karl.”
