Telus is prepared to file a regulatory challenge if the telecom company’s competitors decide to make their content exclusive, CEO Darren Entwistle said Thursday.
“I’m of the view that the people who own the content are going to want market opportunities to monetize that content,” Entwistle told reporters after a speech to the Canadian Club of Toronto.
“But if that doesn’t transpire and there is cartel-like behaviour or undue preference or hoarding of content or exclusivity becomes prevalent, yes, we would object to that and we would involve ourselves in regulatory proceedings in that regard.”
Vancouver-based Telus is the only major Canadian telecom company that doesn’t also own a large stable of media assets.
The parent company of Bell Canada is buying the rest of CTV it didn’t already own for $1.3 billion, while Shaw Communications is acquiring Canwest Global‘s TV assets in a deal worth more than $2 billion.
Rogers Communications owns radio stations, television channels and magazines across the country, and new wireless player Videotron has access to French content for its mobile devices and online services via its parent company Quebecor.
But Entwistle said this doesn’t worry him, as consumers will demand a competitive content market and will find ways to get it even if it’s not provided by the telecom companies.
“I think they’re going to get their content either through fair rates from open-market competition or they’re going to source their content through other means, but at the end of the day I think any content strategy that does not recognize just how empowered consumers are today with the technology that we’ve put in their hands is a content strategy that’s not going to be fruitful,” he said.
He added that advertisers want as many people reading or viewing their content as possible and they won’t support exclusivity deals.
Despite the rapid pace of change in the industry–which is pitting established players like Telus, Bell and Rogers against new entrants like Videotron, Wind Mobile, Mobilicity and Public Mobile–Entwistle said a dramatic change in pricing will hurt companies’ ability to compete.
“Pricing policies that are overly aggressive in response to consumer demands… are not particularly prescient pricing strategies,” he said.
