Bell scraps broadcasting complaint against Telus, marks second recently-dropped dispute between telcos

Bell has scrapped its undue disadvantage claim against Telus, making it the second dropped dispute between the two telcos in recent weeks. In a staff letter addressed to Bell Media, the BCE Inc. subsidiary, and Telus Corp. on March 10, the CRTC said Bell had submitted a letter withdrawing a Part 1 application against Telus, which argued Telus had given Rogers Communications Inc.’s Sports & Media division undue preference, and subjected Bell Media to undue disadvantage by the way in which Telus packaged the two companies discretionary services. Bell’s letter, dated Feb. 24, came just one day after both Bell and Telus submitted letters to the CRTC withdrawing their Part 1 applications against each other in what was an escalating dispute over wholesale fibre access, as first reported by The Wire Report. In the March 10 letter, the CRTC said the providers had reached an agreement over the undue disadvantage dispute, and it considered the Part 1 application resolved. A Feb. 27 CRTC staff letter regarding the withdrawal of the wholesale dispute did not mention an agreement, but in an emailed statement to The Wire Report, a Bell spokesperson confirmed an agreement had been reached. The details of the agreement are not clear. It is also unclear whether the two resolved disputes were related. The Wire Report reached out to both Bell and Telus, but did not immediately receive a response. In its Part 1 application, submitted in April 2025, Bell argued Telus was unfairly characterizing Bell’s five discretionary services that were rebranded in January 2025 following Rogers’ acquisition of the Warner Bros.-owned Discovery brands and related content. The rebranded services are USA Network (formerly Discovery Channel), Oxygen True Crime (formerly Investigation Discovery), CTV Nature (formerly Discovery Science), CTV Speed (formerly Discovery Velocity), and CTV Wild (formerly Animal Planet). Bell’s application said despite the rebrand, the services continue to operate in the same genres and offer much of the same programming. After the Warner Bros. acquisition, Rogers launched its own Discovery Channel and Investigation Discovery, which provide programming that was previously available on the Bell channels of the same name. Subscribers to the Rogers channels also got access to a video-on-demand service that included content that was formerly available on the other three rebranded Bell channels. Many sections of Bell’s application were redacted because they filed in confidence with the CRTC. The un-redacted sections of the application said the complaint was filed after Telus informed Bell it would be offering the new Rogers services to customers. Bell argued Telus had unfairly packaged the two companies' services, saying Telus characterized the rebranded services to their customers as brand new channels with different content, while treating the new Rogers channels “as if they were the same channels that subscribers were receiving prior to the rebrand.” Bell said in April 2025, Telus gave the new Rogers’ services “to approximately 300,000 legacy customers that have previously opted for this content and are subscribed to a bundle of theme packs that includes these services.” Bell argued the legacy subscribers in question must have been the current subscribers of Bell’s rebranded services, “since only that group could have ‘previously opted’ for the Warner branded content.” “It appears that Telus has already provided the brand-new services to all, or almost all, of the legacy subscribers that are currently receiving the Rebranded Services,” the application read. Bell argued its service was comparable with Rogers’ offering because they operate in similar genres, and said the rebranded services should be entitled to the same packaging. Due to the redactions, it is not clear what package options Telus has made available for the rebranded Bell services. If Bell’s services are not packaged the same way as the Rogers services, Bell argued it will suffer “significant financial harm.” Bell also said packaging differences will reduce consumer choice and undermine competition. The withdrawn application was still active as recently as of a month ago, with a Feb. 10 staff letter requiring Telus to provide further information to Bell, which had been redacted from Telus’ July 15 correspondence. Bell was entitled to submit a final response by Feb. 24, the same day the withdrawal letter was submitted. mcollins@thewirereport.ca

Bell scraps broadcasting complaint against Telus, marks second recently-dropped dispute between telcos

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By Maria Collins
|March 11, 2026

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Bell scraps broadcasting complaint against Telus, marks second recently-dropped dispute between telcos

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