ARCHIVED - Letter
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BY E-MAIL
Madame Johanne Saint-Laurent
Vice présidente principale affaires commerciales
Les Chaîne Télé Astral et Vice-présidente, directrice générale
Astral Télé Réseau
1800, avenue McGill Collège, Bureau 1600
Montréal (Québec) H3A 3J6
jsaint-laurent@astral.com
Madame Louma Haffar
Conseillère Principale, Affaires Règlementaires - Radiodiffusion , Senior Advisor, Regulatory Affairs - Broadcasting
Québecor Média inc.
612, rue Saint-Jacques, Montréal (Québec) H3C 4M8
louma.haffar@quebecor.com
Re : Request by Astral for Final Offer Arbitration between Astral and Videotron (File No. 8622-A124-201304907)
On 6 March 2013, Astral Media Inc. (Astral) filed an application requesting that the Commission resolve a dispute between Astral and Vidéotron S.E.N.C. (Vidéotron) by way of final offer arbitration (FOA). On 13 March 2013, Astral completed its application by providing additional details regarding the dispute, and outlining the issues for which it sought adjudication by the Commission in the FOA process.
Vidéotron responded to Astral’s application on 22 March 2013. Vidéotron stated that it was prepared to accede to Astral’s request for FOA only in respect of Astral’s pay television services. In respect of Astral’s French-language specialty services, Vidéotron submitted that since the issues in dispute are not exclusively monetary, they be determined by way of an expedited hearing.
Further submissions regarding the dispute resolution mechanism that should be adopted and possible timeframes to follow were made by Astral and Vidéotron, by letters 5 April 2013 and 10 April 2013, respectively.
Commission staff considers that, having regard to the above-noted exchanges of correspondence, there is an appropriate amount of information available to the Commission upon which to decide whether to accept the request for dispute resolution.
Commission staff expects that parties will be advised by no later than April 23, 2013 whether the Commission is prepared to accept the request for dispute resolution. Should the application be accepted, the Commission will set out in an advice letter the specific dates upon which any FOA or expedited hearing is to be conducted and the matters upon which the Commission will make a determination.
Commission staff reminds parties that the Commission considers it preferable that parties negotiate on a commercial basis the terms of affiliation agreements. Parties are also encouraged to continue negotiations, including participating in mediation (such as Commission staff-assisted mediation) throughout this process.
Yours sincerely,
Original signed by
Martha King
martha.king@crtc.gc.ca
Planning, Research and Reporting
CC: K. Taylor, CRTC, kathleen.taylor@crtc.gc.ca
Laurence J.E. Dunbar, Fasken Martineau, ldunbar@fasken.com
Louma Haffar, Québecor Média, Louma.Haffar@quebecor.com
Dany Meloul, Les Chaînes Télé Astral, dmeloul@astral.com
Natalie Dorval, Astral Media Inc, ndorval@astral.com
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