Amid political push for SimSub ruling reversal, Bell yet to file appeal

Despite having less than two months until the Feb. 5 kick off at the 51st Super Bowl, BCE Inc. has yet to start the process with the courts to put a stop to a decision prohibiting the broadcaster from replacing American advertisements with Canadian ones during the game. At the beginning of November, the federal Appeals Court granted Bell leave to appeal the CRTC’s decision to ban simultaneous substitution during the broadcast of the National Football League’s championship game, beginning in February. As part of the ruling, the court turned down Bell’s request for a stay of the decision until after the 2017 game, but “noted “applicants may bring a motion to expedite the appeal once a notice of appeal has been filed.” When asked if the company was still pursuing the legal avenue anytime soon, Bell Media vice-president of communications Scott Henderson said in an email that the “appeal process continues and we will be filing an appeal.” Speculating on why Bell may be taking its time in filing the new appeal, independent Internet lawyer Allen Mendelsohn said in a phone interview the company may be waiting to see if political pressure will be enough to reverse course. “I think if they went ahead and lost before the Super Bowl, it would be more problematic,” Mendelsohn said. Over the past few weeks, representatives from the United States Congress have written to federal ministers condemning the decision, two Liberal MPs have written to the CRTC, and the NFL has reached out to David MacNaughton, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. On Tuesday, a pair of U.S. senators also sent a letter to MacNaughton about the decision. “The NFL and its Canadian broadcast partner have a business relationship that is based upon the ability to sell Canadian ads in the Canadian market,” said the letter signed by Ron Johnson, chairman of the senate’s committee on homeland security and governmental affairs, and Marco Rubio. “Undermining this business relationship is not only unproductive, it also sends a troubling signal about the value Canada places on its largest trading partner, best customer and close friend.” In a Wednesday press release, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) also joined the fray, asking its 23,000 members to sign an online petition available at supportcreators.ca. Unifor president Jerry Dias also tweeted about the website Tuesday. A person with knowledge of the matter told The Wire Report that the union was part of a "coalition of media advocates" behind the site. The website was — according to a Whois domain search — registered on Dec. 6 through a company called 10 Dollar Domain Names Inc. that advertises a service that keeps private domain registration information. “Most Canadians don’t know that the Canadian ads they see during the Super Bowl mean work opportunities for Canadian performers. But they do,” Stephen Waddell, ACTRA’s national executive director, said in the release. “The CRTC decision is incredibly short-sighted, reckless, and it puts creative sector jobs at risk.” — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Amid political push for SimSub ruling reversal, Bell yet to file appeal

Broadcast | December 21, 2016

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Amid political push for SimSub ruling reversal, Bell yet to file appeal

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