Quebec hotel company asks CRTC to mandate negotiations with Bell

A Quebec-based hotel accused of copyright infringement is asking the CRTC to order BCE Inc. to enter into good faith negotiations with the company regarding the terms of distribution of Réseau des sports (RDS) and its other discretionary services, claiming that the incumbent is using stall tactics to slow down competition. In a June 27 Part 1 reply, Coopérative de câblodistribution Hill Valley also requested that the matter be automatically referred to the commission in the dispute resolution process if an affiliation agreement is not reached within 90 days. Hill Valley’s reply comes after Quebecor Inc. filed a Part 1 application asking the CRTC to revoke its status as an exempt broadcast distribution undertaking (BDU). The order exempts broadcasters with fewer than 20,000 subscribers from certain regulatory requirements. In February 2022 the Federal Court ruled that Hill Valley and Konek Technologies Inc. (a provider of the hardware and software that receive broadcast signals in hotel rooms) operated illegally because it violated Quebecor copyright by rebroadcasting TVA Sports. Quebecor filed its Part 1 application as a response, and, in addition to the revocation of the hotel broadcasters’ licence, called on the CRTC to sanction them for their conduct. In a June 7 intervention, Bell said it supported Quebecor’s position because of its own “direct experience with Hill Valley’s illegal activities.” Bell, in its intervention, told the commission that Hill Valley retransmitted Bell Media broadcast signals including over-the-air signals covered under the Copyright Act – Noovo and CTV – and signals not covered under that section of the Act such as RDS, its French-language mainstream sports service. Bell said when Hill Valley registered as an exempt BDU it was only permitted to distribute its CTV and Noovo stations. “However, evidence indicates that Hill Valley continues to illegally distribute RDS to its hotel clientele,” Bell wrote at the time. Hill Valley pushed back against the claims, arguing that Jean-Francois Rousseau, chief operating officer of Konek, contacted Bell in March 2020 with two phone calls and messages to secure agreements for their optional services. “In March 2020, Hill Valley filled out the web form on the Bell Media site to get feedback for an agreement for their optional services. Hill Valley received no feedback,``Hill Valley claimed in its French-language reply. Hill Valley alleges that Rousseau tried six more times in July 2020 one of which resulted in a 40 minute phone call with a receptionist who helped him find the right contacts responsible for the agreements. “Two messages were left with each of the contacts provided by BCE. Hill Valley received no return calls,” Hill Valley stated, adding that it tried another time through the online form. Hill Valley said it then learned “through discussions with employees of other BDUs and BDU associations” that Bell’s phone silence was a strategy that was frequently used to slow down competition. Hill Valley noted to the CRTC that programming service providers are required to make their programming available to all BDUs, as per its regulatory framework for vertical integration . “With this information, Hill Valley went ahead and started providing the RDS channel to its members sometime in the summer of 2020,” the company wrote. Hill Valley received a cease-and-desist order from both Quebecor and Bell soon after. Hill Valley claims it notified Bell of its rights and was put in touch with Manon Ravary, Bell’s manager of optional services agreements, to negotiate a distribution contract. “Following BCE's openness to discussions, Hill Valley ceased in good faith to broadcast all BCE content, which it confirmed in an email to Manon Ravary... Hill Valley replaced CTV and RDS with an unavailable message,” the company wrote in its reply. Hill Valley then received a letter from Bell saying that it was refusing negotiations in order to protect Quebecor, Groupe TVA, and Vidéotron. “It should be noted that at this time BCE suffered no prejudice, but refused to negotiate out of solidarity and in complicity with Quebecor Media,” it argued to the CRTC. Hill Valley opted to reinstate its RDS broadcast in the summer of 2021, alleging that “Hill Valley members have received several hundred complaints from their clients, including several threats,” because it did not carry the channel. “Jean-François Rousseau even witnessed threats to the physical integrity of a receptionist of a member of Hill Valley because RDS was unavailable in the client's room,” the company wrote. Hill Valley then noted to the CRTC that Bell refused its request for CRTC employee-assisted mediation in January 2022 and a second attempt in March 2022. Hill Valley also argued that it does not pirate RDS despite not having a carriage agreement. “The CRTC has recognized that sometimes in disputes signals are carried without a carriage contract,” it wrote, adding that it placed in trust an amount of more than $24,000 for royalties to be paid to Bell for the distribution of RDS. – Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca.

Quebec hotel company asks CRTC to mandate negotiations with Bell

News | 07/11/2022 5:43 pm EDT

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