BCE/Bell made their opening statements to the CRTC as the hearing on Bell's acquisition of Astral Media got underway, today, in Montreal.
George Cope, President and CEO of BCE and Bell annonced that following the approval of the acquistion, of Astral Media, Bell will launch a made-in-Canada service to compete against Netflix.
Cope stated, "The Canadian system needs companies with the scale to compete against foreign content companies like Netflix, Apple, Google and Amazon. More than 10% of Canadians now subscribe to Netflix, which accounts for more than 11-million hours of TV viewing per week. With scale, Canadian companies can make the investments in Canadian content and technology require to go head to head with these well-financed global competitors. And while international players do not invest in Canada or focus on Canadians, at Bell we always have and always will."
"Following the transaction, I am pleased to announce that we will launch a service offering to compete with foreign competitors like Netflix. A made-in-Canada service, available in French and English everywhere we have rights, to all Canadians through the cable, satellite or IPTV provider of their choice. Available on-demand and on any device, the service will showcase the very best in Canadian and international movies from Astral's pay TV services, such as HBO Canada and The Movie Network, and great news, entertainment and sports content from Bell Media. Combining the unique pay TV strenghts of Astral with Bell Media's broad range of programming will create a Canadian service that truly stnads apart from those of international providers. Bell has committed that all content will be available to all Canadians throught the cable, satellire or IPTV provider of their choice. This is not only becasue we respect the CRTC's rules and regulations, but because it make obvious business sense."