Canada: Competition Bureau fights TV channel bundling

Canada’s Competition Bureau told a hearing on Monday that television consumers should be able to pick and choose which channels they want to pay for and slammed channel bundling as “price discrimination,” according to reports.

The hearing, meant to discuss the future of the television industry, was held by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Several proposals were offered at the discussions to boost competition in the industry, but the Bureau declined to support any specific plan.

Instead, Bureau representative Renee Duplantis offered overall support to improved competition, telling the hearing that the watchdog “fully supports the move to improve consumer choice and flexibility.”

”Bundling in and of itself is a form of price discrimination,” she said.

The hearing will invite cable providers and online content providers, including Netflix and Google, to discuss the matter over the next two weeks. Reports say the notion of “pick and pay” options for channel purchasing will also be a subject of discussion.

Full content: Financial Post

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