OTTAWA – The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), the Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC) and the Council of Senior Citizens’ Organizations of British Columbia (COSCO) hailed today the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) decision to prohibit Bell Mobility and Videotron from unjustly favouring their own “mobile TV” applications over other internet-delivered content by billing their own mobile TV services at unjustly favourable rates.
“All consumers gain more from an open, fair internet that lets consumers pick winners and losers, not the dominant ISPs,” said John Lawford, Executive Director and General Counsel of PIAC.
PIAC, CAC and COSCO argued that Videotron, Bell and Rogers (who dropped the practice before this decision was issued) were unjustly favouring their internet-delivered TV programming on consumers’ smartphones, tablets and computers by exempting their own applications’ usage from data caps and higher data rates that consumers would pay if they accessed similar or even identical content from other sources on the Internet.
“The CRTC was right to see through the self-serving arguments of Bell and Videotron,” added Geoff White, Counsel to PIAC, “Since these companies offer internet access, they must abide by the fairness requirements of Canadian telecommunications law and not prefer their own programming.”
To read the CRTC decision, click Broadcasting and Telecom Decision CRTC 2015-26
For more information please contact:
John Lawford
Executive Director
Public Interest Advocacy Centre
ONE Nicholas Street, Suite 1204
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 7B7
(613) 562-4002×25
(613) 447-8125 (cell)
jlawford@piac.ca
or
Geoffrey White
Counsel to PIAC
ONE Nicholas Street, Suite 1204
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 7B7
(613) 562-4002×24
gwhite@piac.ca