Quebecor threatens to deny Bell TV subscribers over business dispute

Bong has revealed that Quebecor has threatened to deny Bell TV subscribers access to its TVA Sports channel in response to a concern dispute betwixt both companies.

The result is that Quebecor has accused Bell of not granting royalties that reflect the "off-white value" of its specialty channels offered through Bell, including LCN and TVA Sports. Specifically, Bell is pricing its RDS sports network more than than the Quebecor TVA Sports channel, which Bong says is due to the fact that viewership is on average 67 percentage college on RDS than TVA.

Meanwhile, Bong says Quebecor has issued "a series of misleading statements on its hockey broadcasts and other media platforms that falsely claimed Bell itself planned to remove access to TVA Sports, and that besides directed Bell TV customers to switch to Quebecor's cablevision TV subsidiary Vidéotron."

Following a request from Bell, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunication Commission (CRTC) has issued a directive requiring Quebecor to continue providing TVA Sports service to Bell customers.

"Quebecor'due south reckless campaign and illegal deportment are all virtually our negotiations over pricing for its TVA Sports aqueduct and Bell'southward Media's RDS sports network," said Martine Turcotte, Bong'southward vice chair, Québec.

"Quebecor actually wants to charge Bell more to access its TVA Sports channel than Quebecor/Videotron is willing to pay for RDS. Even so, the reality is that RDS is the leading French-language sports network by far, consistently outpacing TVA Sports in both content and viewership, and Bell Media will not devalue the clear fan favourite."

"Bell will continue to negotiate with Quebecor in practiced organized religion equally we always have and we look forward to a off-white resolution. Our focus is always on delivering for the fans, and that'south why RDS is #1," said Turcotte.

Source: Bell