Bell files leave to appeal over CRTC decision to renew its licence without hearing

BCE Inc. filed an application with the Federal Court of Appeal for leave to appeal a CRTC decision which renewed its television and specialty channel broadcast licences without initiating a hearing or consultation process. “Canada’s broadcasting industry is in crisis and we need urgent action now,” Bell’s chief legal and regulatory officer Robert Malcolmson stated. The CRTC approved the broadcaster’s 66 television and specialty channel licences for three more years on an administrative renewal basis. However, in June Bell filed Part 1 applications with the commission requesting it eliminate local news requirements and reduce Canadian program expenditure requirements. “The CRTC’s decision to extend our broadcast licenses for three more years without first dealing with our requests for financial relief is arbitrary and unfair,” Malcolmson stated. The CRTC approved Bell’s conditions of license in 2017, which Bell argues were set in “a much different economic and competitive environment than what broadcasters face today.” In its court application, filed last month, Bell said that renewing the application without a hearing “could very well prejudge the issues” raised in its applications. Bell said the CRTC’s decision will have adverse impacts on the company, including the possibility of being administratively renewed for nine years. “Rather than dealing with our applications, the CRTC chose instead to renew our licences without any timeline to address our urgent request. Given the financial crisis facing traditional broadcasters, the rise of online streaming and the rapidly changing marketplace, we cannot wait years for much-needed relief,” Malcolmson said. Bell filed its Part 1 application with the regulator the same day it announced it was laying off 1,300 employees, shutting the doors to six radio stations, and selling three others. This summer, Rogers Communications Inc. and Corus Entertainment Inc. similarly requested changes to CanCon regulations. Quebecor Inc. also got in on the action while simultaneously announcing it would cut programming weekend newscasts – which it then walked back. Unions opposed the call to lighten the regulatory load until updates to the Broadcasting Act are fully implemented. Bell and its competitors have argued that those changes will take time and the industry is in need of immediate relief. – Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca and editing by Phalen Tynes-MacDonald at pcreed@thewirereport.ca

Bell files leave to appeal over CRTC decision to renew its licence without hearing

News | October 16, 2023

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Bell files leave to appeal over CRTC decision to renew its licence without hearing

News | October 16, 2023

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