The CRTC has introduced a new set of controls on how television content can be sold, in a move that will curb BCE Inc.’s plans to use programming to boost its wireless business. Wireless companies that also own TV channels must offer all their content on fair terms to competing mobile phone providers for their smart phone and tablet devices, and on the Internet, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission said Wednesday. The ruling throws a wrench into part of BCE Inc.’s strategy for the media assets it purchased in a massive deal last year. The Montreal-based telecommunications provider said repeatedly it would offer its TV content – from channels CTV, TSN and others – to competitors.
But Mirko Bibic, Bell’s senior vice-president of regulatory and government affairs, also said on Wednesday that it wanted to “exploit some content exclusively,” most likely meaning lucrative sports content that was such a driver of mobile video use for Bell during the Vancouver Olympics.
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