Photographer: Cole Burston/Bloomberg
A dispute over Monday Night Hockey could change how Canadians watch sports, and how much they pay for it.
Rogers has moved Monday Night Hockey exclusively to its streaming service, Sportsnet+. That decision has sparked a fight with three competing television providers: Cogeco, Eastlink and SaskTel, which have filed a complaint with Canada’s broadcasting regulator, the CRTC.
The issue is simple: Rogers customers can watch the Monday games through their existing television packages at no additional cost. But customers of competing providers generally have to pay an additional $12.99 per month for the Sportsnet+ TV Provider Add-on.
The three companies say this is unfair and gives Rogers an advantage over its competitors.
1) What are the companies complaining about?
Cogeco, Eastlink and SaskTel are television and telecommunications providers that compete directly with Rogers.
They argue that Rogers is using its control over valuable NHL broadcasting rights to benefit its own television business.
Think of it this way: Imagine one company owns the most popular toy in the country. It gives its own stores the toy at no extra cost but makes competing stores charge customers an additional fee. The competing stores would argue that they are being put at an unfair disadvantage.
That is essentially what these companies say is happening with hockey.
They also argue that Canadians are increasingly being forced to purchase multiple streaming subscriptions just to watch their favourite sports teams.
2) What are they asking the CRTC to do?
They want the CRTC to order Rogers to make Monday Night Hockey available to competing television providers on equivalent financial terms.
Specifically, they want Rogers to provide the Sportsnet+ TV Provider Add-on to independent television providers at a wholesale price capped at zero dollars (a wholesale price is what one company charges another for access to its programming).
In practical terms, this would allow Cogeco, Eastlink and SaskTel to include Monday Night Hockey in their own television offerings without paying Rogers an additional wholesale fee.
The objective is to give their customers the same access that Rogers customers enjoy.
3) What is Rogers’ defence?
Rogers says it has done nothing wrong.
Its position is that it paid billions of dollars for exclusive NHL broadcasting rights and is entitled to decide how that programming is distributed.
Rogers also argues that its own cable television business pays Sportsnet for the programming and has simply chosen to provide it to customers at no additional charge.
The problem is that Rogers Cable and Sportsnet are not independent competitors dealing with each other at arm’s length. They are part of the same corporate group.
4) Why does the Rogers-Shaw merger matter?
This is where the legal dispute becomes interesting.
When the CRTC approved Rogers’ $26-billion acquisition of Shaw in 2023, it imposed conditions designed to protect competition.
As part of the approval, Rogers expressly committed to restrictions on entering into exclusive or preferential distribution arrangements involving online programming services.
Cogeco, Eastlink and SaskTel argue that Rogers is violating those commitments by giving its own television business preferential access to Monday Night Hockey. They say Rogers cannot use its ownership of valuable sports programming to disadvantage competing television distributors.
5) What happens next?
The CRTC will examine the complaint, consider Rogers’ response and decide whether its conduct violates its regulatory obligations.
There are three possible outcomes:
a) The CRTC sides with the providers: Rogers could be ordered to make Monday Night Hockey available to competitors on equivalent terms.
b) The CRTC sides with Rogers: Rogers could continue distributing the games through Sportsnet+ under its current arrangement.
c) The parties reach an agreement: Rogers and the competing providers could negotiate a commercial arrangement before the regulator makes a final decision.
The CRTC is unlikely to dictate how every NHL game must be distributed, but it will have to consider whether Rogers is giving its own television business an unfair advantage.
6) Why should hockey fans care?
This is about much more than Monday Night Hockey.
Rogers controls a significant amount of valuable Canadian sports programming, including the NHL, Toronto Blue Jays and Raptors.
If it can move premium content behind its own streaming services while giving its own television customers preferential access, other media companies could eventually follow suit.
Fans could find themselves needing multiple subscriptions just to watch their favourite teams. Those cost will only rise will fans struggle to pay the bills while trying to watch their teams play.
This article was originally published on Forbes.com