Bell Media Shifts Aim to Warner Bros. in Rogers Showdown

Bell Media has intensified its legal battle against Warner Bros. Discovery, seeking to enforce its non-compete rights and filing for an injunction to prevent Rogers from broadcasting Warner Bros. Discovery content for two years.

This action follows the announcement that Rogers will take over the Canadian rights to the programming starting in January 2025, including bringing back Bravo content to Canada.

Bell Media submitted a court application on June 19, claiming that the licensing agreement between Warner Bros. Discovery and Rogers, announced just nine days earlier, violated non-competition clauses.

The company also accuses Rogers of “inducing” Warner Bros. to breach its longstanding obligations, which Bell Media has upheld for the delivery of certain Discovery programming in Canada for the past 30 years.

But a report from Cartt.ca says Warner Bros. apparently forgot to inform Rogers about the two-year non-compete with Bell Media, before signing the new rights deal in June, based on info from a court filing.

In a statement to Broadcast Dialogue last week, Bell Media said it was “astonished to learn that Warner Bros. Discovery had kept Rogers in the dark about critical information when negotiating their licensing agreement for 2025.”

Bell Media announced that it is now concentrating on holding Warner Bros. Discovery accountable for breaching its long-standing agreement with the company. Although Bell has decided not to pursue an inducement claim for damages against Rogers, it emphasized that it will continue to enforce its non-compete rights against Warner Bros. Discovery. Bell also stated it will seek court intervention to ensure that Rogers complies with those rights.

Grab the popcorn folks, this one should get interesting.