Telus has joined hands with Bell to fight Rogers over the latter’s NHL GamePlus app and its exclusive camera angles and content, available only to Rogers customers.
In a filing to the CRTC dated November 14, Telus noted some of the following points:
“This exclusive is not a story of innovation, but rather one of foreclosure of competition,”
[…]
“If this exclusivity continues to be permitted, consumers will very quickly be forced to pay more for access to content as a result of being forced into multiple subscriptions for mobile and Internet services.”
[…]
“Canadians should be able to access the content they want from the provider of their choice, and not be forced to pay for multiple wireless or internet services to get all the content they would like,”
Bell filed a complaint to the CRTC back in October, claiming “Consumers who are not Rogers customers will be harmed as a result of being blocked from accessing this content.” The carrier alleges Rogers is using a loophole in an exemption for digital media broadcasting to undermine the CRTC. Rogers has until November 20 to respond to the original complaint.
Rogers CEO Guy Laurence called Bell a “crybaby” during the company’s most recent earnings call, noting “With respect to crybaby Bell, what can I say?” The scuffle even had Rick Mercer poke fun at the situation.
Anyone out there enjoying GamePlus content? As for Telus and Bell customers, what do you think about not getting access to those extra NHL features?
