BCE buying CTV: The Demise of Net Neutrality in Canada

For the past few years legislators in the United States have been debating how to ensure net neutrality for all Internet users south of the border.  Net Neutrality ensures free access to all content or services available online regardless of the subscriber's Internet service provider.  Meanwhile in Canada, Net Neutrality isn't being debated, it's not even being mentioned.  Instead mergers between Shaw and Canwest Global and now CTV and Bell Canada are going to be rubber stamped.

Canadian Internet users will be steered towards content owned by their Internet service providers.  Access to other sources of online video could potentially be inhibited.  The big ISP's have been targeting bit torrent and other peer to peer networks for throttling because they can and do argue that most content peer to peer networks is pirated and uses a high amount of bandwidth that degrades performance of other users' broadband service.  When Netflix launches in Canada within the next couple of months how will the big ISP's respond to that?

One of the effects that the merging the cable/telco/ISP's with broadcast networks is the apathetic attitude towards the transition to digital television that is now just eleven months away.  Shaw built their business providing better picture and sound quality to broadcast television networks such as Canwest Global.  The move to digital television will give over the air viewers the same sound and picture quality that cable and satellite subscribers get.

The DTV transition will also free up wireless spectrum required to open up the Canadian market to new competition for cell phone and wireless broadband service.  Will Bell rush to convert transmitters of CTV stations to digital.  Somehow I didn't think so.

Bell Buys 'The Source' With A Good Reason

The recent announcement from Bell Canada would be buying retail electronics chain 'The Source' from the now defunct Circuit City for a price that has not been disclosed, has many speculating that it has more to do than selling Bell services but more like quashing the competition. Currently The Source sells Rogers cell phone service and digital cable boxes as well as StarChoice satellite TV systems.

This approach may work well East of Lake of the Woods but for those areas in Western Canada where there is no Bell Mobility cell phone service, what if any cell phone service will available at the Source? It would be a very cold day in you-know-where when a Bell owned 'The Source' stores sells Telus Mobility service. It would most likely that service for cell phones sold at 'The Source' would be provided by half owned by Bell, Virgin Mobile.

There isn't too many acquisitions in the corporate world that happen without some kind of hidden motive, and this just happens to be one of them simply because Bell's motive is anything but hidden.

Phone Switcher Should Call Old Providers: Bell Canada

Bell Canada and their regional subsidiary Bell Aliant have made an application to the CRTC that if accepted would force anybody switching to another provider of telephone service to call their soon to be former telephone provider in order authorize the porting of their phone numbers to the new provider.

How it works now, when somebody wants to switch to a new telephone service provider they just call the new provider, give them the account number from the telephone company they current subscribe to, the address including the postal code on the account with the existing provider and the new provider arranges for the phone number to be ported.

Bell Canada's proposal would allow incumbent telco's to bombard any potential switchers with sales pitches to stay no matter how poor the service may be. Bell Canada claims that this would "level the playing ground in the competive marketplace" Which is a lot of baloney, since when deciding to shop at a different store or eat a different restraunt you don't have to the old store or restraunt that you are going to a different store or restaunt. The rules that govern how people switch telephone providers is the way it needs to be.

With first hand experience switching to a new phone provider, I know that having to call my former telephone provider (SaskTel) just to have them make their sales pitch would have been an ordeal because their very poor customer service, and restricted telephone account, I was fed up with them and wanted a different provider to switch to as soon as I could.

Incumbent telcos need to lower prices for local telephone service while improving customer service to keep customers, not the preferencial treatment from regulatory agencies.