Bell Canada to Deliver TV over Phone Lines

Bell Canada (Bell), the largest incumbent phone company in Canada, has been granted regulatory approval to deliver television services over phone lines to major urban centres in Ontario and Quebec. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) made the decision on November 18, 2004 (CRTC 2004-496) to grant two regional licenses to Bell, allowing the company to serve cities such as Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. The move comes at a time of heightened competition between telephone and cable systems offering converged communication and media services. Both phone operators and cable operators are racing to develop new technologies that will enable them to compete in each other's traditional markets. While major cable companies plan to offer phone services over high-speed Internet, telephone companies are developing video services over their phone lines. Consumers may anticipate being offered more "bundled" services at a discount, including phone, TV, Internet and wireless in one package. The CRTC dismissed concerns (raised by interveners) that Bell would be able to use its dominant position in the local telephony market to gain an unfair advantage in the broadcast distribution market. Should it behave in an anti-competitive fashion, the CRTC decided that it had "adequate tools to address that behaviour." Moreover, the CRTC observed that granting Bell the licenses will actually improve competition, given that satellite communication does not already provide consumers a sufficiently competitive alternative to cable offerings. The cable industry and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters expressed concern as to Bell's technical capability to distribute high definition programming, but the CRTC was satisfied by Bell's assurances that it will indeed deliver high definition services. Bell has two years to launch its service before it must apply for an extension from the CRTC. For a related news report, see: http://makeashorterlink.com/?R1E5626F9. For the full text of the CRTC decision, see: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2004/db2004-496.htm. Summary by: Rosa Kim