MONTREAL – Quebecor Media’s Vidéotron announced it as a first in Canada on Thursday, but its plan to exempt music streaming from mobile data caps has already raised alarms from net neutrality activists and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre.
The Quebec mobile provider announced Thursday morning its Unlimited Music service, which exempts a series of streaming services (Stingray, Rdio, Google Play, Deezer and Spotify) from counting toward mobile data usage for customers with Canada-wide plans with at least 2GB data (a plan that costs about $65/month).
But the company argues this move doesn't go against CRTC regulations because it doesn't offer any undue preference to itself. "Any other player that wants to offer, we'd be happy to accept them," said Vidéotron CEO Manon Brouillette. "All regulatory verifications have been made."
But "any other player" doesn't include radio stations who offer live streaming, explained Myrianne Collin (pictured above), Vidéotron's senior vice president, strategy and marketing. "It's a business decision" to offer this just to streaming music services and not to radio stations or other spoken-word services, she said.
A regulatory affairs analyst with Vidéotron said they haven't consulted the CRTC about the deal, but they're confident it does not go against the rules.
In January, the CRTC ruled that Bell could not exempt its mobile television app from its mobile data caps, but Vidéotron argues the Bell decision is different because it was a case of undue preference to itself. No money is being exchanged between Vidéotron and the streaming music providers.
John Lawford, executive director and general counsel of PIAC, which was a party to the Bell complaint, doesn't buy it. Though he said the group needs to study the proposal further, he said in an interview with Cartt.ca it seems to be "the same zero-rating nonsense (we're seeing) around the world wrapped into a new package."
Offering deals to streaming services, even if no money exchanged, is still a preference, he argued. "It's something that looks very similar to Bell Mobile TV."
Videotron and other service providers believe they can find "a regulatory crack they can wiggle into here, but there's no room there," he said.
Data exemption like this "is going to be on our regulatory agenda for a while," Lawford added.
Videotron's announcement comes on the heels of the shut down last week of zik.ca, a music streaming platform launched in 2012 by Quebecor-owned Groupe Archambault. (Archambault is being sold to bookstore owner Renaud-Bray.) Collin said the timing was a coincidence, and the Unlimited Music deal was in the works for months before zik was cancelled.
Photo by Steve Faguy
