Two companies have been unable to agree on subscriber fees that should be charged
Canada's newest 24-hour news channel, Sun News Network, has been yanked off the air by Bell TV in a dispute about fees.
Quebecor Inc. QBR-B, which owns the channel, sent a letter to BCE Inc. BCE-T on April 18, demanding the channel be removed from Bell's satellite TV service if an agreement was not reached by May 3. Bell did just that at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. Now, Quebecor plans to file a complaint with the federal broadcast regulator, charging that BCE is discriminating against channels that it does not own.
Like most specialty networks, Sun News must negotiate with cable and satellite providers to determine the subscriber fee they will pay to carry the channel. Those negotiations have so far been successful with Western cable giant Shaw Communications Inc. and with the cable service Quebecor owns, Vid
Canada's newest 24-hour news channel, Sun News Network, has been yanked off the air by Bell TV in a dispute about fees.
Quebecor Inc. QBR-B, which owns the channel, sent a letter to BCE Inc. BCE-T on April 18, demanding the channel be removed from Bell's satellite TV service if an agreement was not reached by May 3. Bell did just that at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. Now, Quebecor plans to file a complaint with the federal broadcast regulator, charging that BCE is discriminating against channels that it does not own.
Like most specialty networks, Sun News must negotiate with cable and satellite providers to determine the subscriber fee they will pay to carry the channel. Those negotiations have so far been successful with Western cable giant Shaw Communications Inc. and with the cable service Quebecor owns, Vid