OTTAWA, April 27, 2022 – The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the National Pensioners Federation (NPF) today filed a Petition to the federal Cabinet to set aside a CRTC decision to approve Rogers’ acquisition of Shaw’s broadcasting assets as part of the broader Rogers-Shaw merger. These assets include certain broadcasting undertakings, as well as broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) including cable TV services, and satellite TV services, and to a lesser extent, Internet protocol-based TV services (IPTV).
“Consumers shouldn’t pay for these mergers,” said John Lawford, Executive Director and General Counsel of PIAC. “This Petition is a result of our concern that the CRTC failed to impose enforceable conditions to protect consumer affordability of TV services.”
In both written and oral submissions, NPF-PIAC raised serious concerns about the impact of the acquisition on affordability of TV services, especially for Shaw’s current TV-only customers, that is, customers who subscribe only to cable or satellite TV without any underlying or additional Internet services from Shaw.
NPF-PIAC filed survey evidence with the CRTC demonstrating Canadians, especially seniors, were concerned about price increases in TV service as a result of the deal – and that this concern was greatest for Shaw TV customers.
Petition text: NPF-PIAC Petition re BD CRTC 2022-76 Rogers-Shaw – 27 April 2022 FINAL
Supporting Appendix A (spreadsheet): App A – Environics PIAC Telecomm Merger Tables ST Sept 8-21
Supporting Appendix B (spreadsheet): App B – Environics Phone Survey – Charts for Shaw Customers_12 Apr 2022
For more information, please contact:
John Lawford
Executive Director and General Counsel
Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)
(613) 562-4002 ext. 125
jlawford@piac.ca