Corus Entertainment says Canada’s broadcasting system is broken—and blames Rogers for making things worse.
Speaking at this week’s hearings with the CRTC, Corus told regulators on Friday that Rogers’ growing dominance is threatening the future of independent Canadian TV channels.
The company said it’s struggling to get fair treatment from distributors like Rogers, especially after the telecom giant took over Shaw and became the largest cable provider in English Canada.
“Rogers has the market power to decide which channels succeed and which ones fail,” said Corus CEO John Gossling.
Corus claims Rogers is pushing its own channels while cutting support for independent ones. They say Rogers has used its control over distribution to “target competing services for removal, de-packaging and lesser channel positioning.”
Corus also pointed out that their channels like Slice, Flavour Network, and Home Network are outperforming Rogers’ new channels—despite having fewer advantages. They say they’ve worked hard to rebuild their lineup after losing U.S. content rights, and their ratings are up among key audiences.
The company is calling for stronger rules to level the playing field—including updated regulations for how cable companies bundle and promote channels. They argue that current policies favour big distributors, leaving smaller content creators with little leverage.
“Rogers has shown little interest in a fair and competitive marketplace,” said Jennifer Lee, Chief Legal Officer at Corus. “It simply wants competing channels like ours to disappear.”
Corus ended its presentation by urging the CRTC to strengthen protections for independent broadcasters and ensure Canadians still have access to diverse, local content.
Here’s the irony to this story: Corus is controlled by the Shaw family, who also sold Shaw Communications to Rogers in 2023—the very deal that made Rogers the dominant force Corus is now fighting. You can’t make this stuff up.
Corus is publicly calling out Rogers for anti-competitive behaviour, even though the Shaw family became Rogers shareholders as part of the Shaw-Rogers merger. In other words: Corus is now battling the company the Shaw family helped supercharge.
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Why is this so hard? Providers should be forbidden to own channels. Solved.
A stupid question asked by an immature idiot.
The simple fact that Corus Entertainment has been crumbling apart ever since they were separated from what used to be Shaw's telecom business should spell out EXACTLY why "providers" still own TV channels. Money and resources: something the independent and non-vertically-integrated companies NEVER had and will NEVER have.
Why do you think every scripted Canadian show outside the CBC was produced for Rogers, Bell, or the Shaw family-owned channels? They're the only ones who could afford to produce them, while every other broadcaster had to settle for cheap unscripted fare. Internet subscriptions are rising while cable TV is falling. Separating the "providers" from their TV channels now, when these channels simply can't survive on their own, will only make things worse for the few people who still subscribe to cable.
Did your mommy forget to give you your meds?
Imagine defending Robelus! You tool!
You’re a sad pathetic sheep beholden to your corporate overloads. Wake up and eat grass.
For once, I'm glad iPhone in Canada is interjecting their unwanted, biased, edgelord BS. Somebody (else) has to call out Corus Entertainment for their double-standards and hypocrisy on their way to a possible, and well-deserved, bankruptcy.
The Shaw family are straight up blaming other people for problems that they themselves created – and Rogers is the problem that everyone who still subscribes to cable has to deal with.