Cogeco accuses Wildbrain of “glaring abuse” of CRTC process over Part 1

Cogeco Inc. has responded to a Part 1 from television company Wildbrain, calling the company’s attempts to invoke the CRTC’s standstill rule “a glaring abuse of the Commission’s process.” Halifax-based Wildbrain (formerly DXL Media Ltd.) filed a Part 1 in January, alleging that Cogeco decided to stop carrying its cable family programming channels while the two companies were still negotiating, breaching the standstill rule, which requires broadcasters to continue offering programming that is under ongoing dispute. In a reply filed this week, Cogeco wrote that the standstill rule is not applicable to this situation, because there are no ongoing negotiations, and Cogeco does not wish to continue carrying Wildbrain’s channels. “The inferior performance of the Services compared to those of similar services, among other factors, supports Cogeco’s decision to discontinue their carriage.” Cogeco also explained its decision to drop Wildbrain’s channels by noting that much of the content they aired was readily available on over-the-top services such as Netflix Inc. “Cogeco believes that excessive content duplication on OTT Services likely erodes Canadians’ trust in the broadcasting system by making them question the value of a monthly BDU subscription.” Responding to Wildbrain’s allegations that it breached the Wholesale Code, Cogeco argued that the Wholesale Code doesn’t prevent a BDU from simply ending negotiations, noting that the CRTC no longer mandates access privileges for services like Wildbrain’s family programming. “The Wholesale Code, while setting out the framework for negotiations between parties does not restrict any party from deciding to not continue the negotiations or enter into a renewed agreement,” Cogeco wrote. “The Commission ended access privileges for discretionary services, and made sure to clarify that, under its new framework, discretionary services could no longer be insulated from the impacts of consumer choice.” Cogeco’s response further stated that Wildbrain invoked the standstill rule inappropriately, in order to retain continued access to Cogeco’s cable subscribers, in the absence of an ongoing negotiation or dispute. “Any programming service could effectively guarantee itself an access right by claiming the existence of a dispute,” the company wrote. Cogeco’s stance was supported by interventions from Telus Corp. and Quebecor Inc., with Telus warning that a decision in favour of Wildbrain could set an unreasonable precedent for BDUs. “The relief sought by Wildbrain would essentially deny broadcasting distribution undertakings the right to cease distributing discretionary services, in effect providing such services with access rights and insulating them from the impacts of greater consumer choice.” Meanwhile, Wildbrain’s Part 1 was backed up by the Canadian Media Producers Association and the Independent Broadcasters Group, with the CMPA cautioning the CRTC against allowing Cogeco to drop a producer of Canadian content. “Such a loss would result in a vicious cycle where there would be fewer Canadians being able to access the family services, decreased revenues for the family services, and less production of Canadian children’s and family programs.” — Reporting by Tim Forster at tforster@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

Cogeco accuses Wildbrain of “glaring abuse” of CRTC process over Part 1

Broadcast | March 3, 2021

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Cogeco accuses Wildbrain of “glaring abuse” of CRTC process over Part 1

Broadcast | March 3, 2021

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