Rogers Sportsnet Plus Dispute: 3 Providers File CRTC Complaint
Cogeco, Eastlink and SaskTel asked Canada's broadcast regulator to order Rogers to share Monday night NHL games with rival distributors. They say a $12.99 monthly add-on fee inflates sports bills. Sportsnet says every provider could carry the content.
Three Canadian television providers, Cogeco Inc., Eastlink and SaskTel, asked Canada's broadcasting regulator in a letter on Tuesday to intervene in a Rogers Sportsnet Plus pricing dispute over Monday night NHL games. They accuse Rogers Communications Inc. of violating competition rules and inflating fans' bills.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has received the complaint. The companies want it to order Rogers to offer the content to independent distributors for free, "ensuring parity" with Rogers' own offering.
Rogers announced in September that Monday night NHL games would stream exclusively on Sportsnet Plus this season, a first. Customers of Rogers, Rogers West and Shaw Direct who already have Sportsnet in their TV package get the games at no extra charge.
Rogers also added three new digital channels carrying the exclusive content to Rogers Xfinity TV packages that include Sportsnet.
Fans who get Sportsnet through other providers must pay an extra $12.99 a month for an add-on package, the three companies say. The exception is anyone who already subscribes to Sportsnet Plus.
What the providers allege
The rivals say the setup is "deliberately degrading the user experience on other distributors' platforms". They argue it leads to the "erosion of sports on television", because they cannot build a comprehensible sports lineup for their own subscribers.
They called it a "predatory rate squeeze" that forces independent distributors to "absorb severe content devaluation" or pass inflated costs on to consumers.
The letter warned that without "swift, decisive, and binding regulatory intervention," the practice would inflict "immediate and irreversible structural damage on the Canadian broadcasting ecosystem" and set "a dangerous precedent."
The complaint also alleges the move breaches conditions attached to Rogers' 2023 merger with Shaw. The CRTC approved that $26-billion takeover subject to requirements that Rogers preserve competitive market dynamics.
Rogers committed to "refrain from entering into any agreement for exclusive or referential distribution of any online programming service or rights necessary for its distribution." The rivals say Rogers is using its national NHL media rights to give its own network preferential access.
Sportsnet's response
Sportsnet spokesperson Jason Jackson said in a statement that the company would address all issues through the CRTC proceeding, "including Sportsnet's right to distribute content exclusively on Sportsnet Plus."
Jackson said Rogers Cable paid Sportsnet fair market value for the Sportsnet Plus exclusive content and chose to give its TV customers access at no extra cost.
"All TV providers, including Cogeco, Eastlink and SaskTel, have the same opportunity to make the content available as part of their TV offering, but so far have chosen not to," Jackson said. "Fans can contact their TV provider about this option."
The three companies have asked the commission to "intervene without delay" and end what they call an anti-competitive practice to protect Canadian consumers "from coast to coast to coast."
