Three television service providers are charging Rogers Communications Inc. with breaching competition regulations and raising the costs for Canadian sports enthusiasts by exclusively transferring Monday night hockey broadcasts to its Sportsnet Plus streaming platform for this NHL season.
In a communication sent to Canada’s broadcasting authority on Tuesday, the firms — Cogeco Inc., Eastlink, and SaskTel — assert that Rogers is compelling fans to pay a $12.99 monthly fee to access the Monday night hockey games, unless they are already customers of Sportsnet through Rogers TV or Sportsnet Plus.
The competing providers are requesting the CRTC to mandate that Rogers promptly make this content available to independent distributors for their customers at no charge, thus “ensuring parity” with Rogers’ offerings.
The letter warns that “without rapid, decisive, and enforceable regulatory intervention by the commission, this aggressive siphoning of essential live sports content will cause immediate and irreversible structural harm to the Canadian broadcasting landscape,” noting that failure to take regulatory action would set “a perilous precedent.”
“If left unchecked, this approach diminishes consumer options, compels Canadian households to incur mandatory additional fees, and distorts fair market conditions.”
In September, Rogers declared that Monday night NHL games would be streamed exclusively on its platform for the first time this season. It specified that customers of Rogers, Rogers West, and Shaw Direct who have Sportsnet included in their TV package would access that content without incurring any extra fees.
Additionally, the company introduced three new digital channels featuring exclusive content to Rogers Xfinity TV packages that include Sportsnet.
However, subscribers of Sportsnet through other TV providers are required to pay an additional $12.99 per month for the add-on package.
The competing television companies contended that this situation is “deliberately undermining the user experience on other distributors’ platforms” and contributing to the “decline of sports on television,” as these companies struggle to create a coherent sports lineup for their subscribers.
They described it as a “predatory rate squeeze” that forces independent distributors to either “absorb significant content devaluation” or transfer inflated costs to consumers.
“Therefore, the commission must act promptly to definitively terminate Rogers’ anti-competitive practices to uphold the integrity of the Canadian broadcasting system and adequately protect the interests of Canadian consumers across the nation,” they stated.
In a statement, Sportsnet spokesperson Jason Jackson indicated that the company would respond to all concerns raised during the CRTC proceedings, “including Sportsnet’s right to distribute content solely on Sportsnet Plus.”
“Rogers Cable has compensated Sportsnet fairly to provide exclusive content on Sportsnet Plus to their TV customers and opted to make it accessible to them at no additional charge,” Jackson explained.
“All TV providers, such as Cogeco, Eastlink, and SaskTel, have the same chance to offer this content as part of their TV services, but they have so far opted not to. Fans are encouraged to reach out to their TV provider regarding this option.”
The CRTC complaint further claimed that Rogers’ actions breach the stipulations of its 2023 merger with Shaw. The $26-billion acquisition was approved by the CRTC with conditions aimed at ensuring competitive market dynamics were maintained.
Specifically, the telecom giant committed to “abstain from entering into any agreements for exclusive or preferential distribution of any online programming service or rights essential for its distribution.”
However, the rival firms argued that Rogers is leveraging its national NHL media rights for multiplatform distribution “to provide preferential access to its own distribution network while effectively denying full linear carriage to independent distributors.”
This NHL season marks the first under Rogers’ 12-year, $11-billion national TV rights agreement for English-language broadcasts.
The exclusive transfer of Monday broadcasts to Rogers’ streaming service is one of several major changes for hockey fans this season.
Other changes include the termination of a sublicensing agreement that allowed Saturday night NHL broadcasts to be aired on CBC under the “Hockey Night in Canada” banner. Those games will now air on Sportsnet under the new “Saturday Night Hockey” branding.
This marks the first instance since the debut of Hockey Night in Canada in 1952 that NHL games are not accessible to Canadian audiences via the public broadcaster. The CBC intends to showcase Professional Women’s Hockey League games during Hockey Night in Canada this season.
Rogers has also increased the annual fee for Sportsnet Plus for premium subscribers to $344.99. This $20 increase follows last season’s $75 hike for streaming subscribers’ annual plans.
Simultaneously, Rogers announced a 12-year partnership with Amazon for Prime Video in Canada to exclusively broadcast Wednesday night regular-season national games commencing this season.
A prior sublicensing agreement between Rogers and Amazon had allowed Monday night regular-season games to be shown on Prime Video for the last two seasons.
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