ARCHIVED - Procedural Letter adressed to Ann Mainville-Neeson and Susan Wheeler (TELUS Communications Company and Rogers Media Inc.)

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Ottawa, 9 February 2018

BY E-MAIL

Ms. Ann Mainville-Neeson
Vice President, Broadcasting Policy and Regulatory Affairs
TELUS Communications Company
Ann.Mainville-Neeson@telus.com

Ms. Susan Wheeler
Vice-President, Regulatory, Media
Rogers Media Inc.
susan.wheeler@rci.rogers.com

Re: Application (2017-0309-1) for final offer arbitration between TELUS Communications Company and Rogers Media Inc.

This is with respect to the application for final offer arbitration filed by TELUS Communications Company (TELUS) on 6 March 2017 with respect to the carriage of Rogers Media Inc. (Rogers) specialty services Sportsnet and Sportsnet ONE.

The Commission notes that the parties and Commission staff undertook considerable efforts to resolve this dispute. Multiple sessions of mediation, facilitation and negotiation took place both prior to and during the course of the final offer arbitration process. On 7 September 2017, noting that they had had a productive mandatory mediation session, the parties jointly requested that the Commission suspend the final offer arbitration proceeding, pending the execution of a final agreement.

The Commission’s dispute resolution framework prioritizes negotiated settlements. As noted in Information Bulletin 2013-637, the Commission encourages parties to exhaust all other means to resolve outstanding issues in an efficient and effective manner before applying for the Commission’s formal dispute resolution processes, which include final offer arbitration as a mechanism of last resort.

Having received a copy of the signed affiliation agreement, we would like to congratulate you on arriving at a negotiated solution, noting Commission staff’s efforts in this respect. Accordingly, the Commission is closing this dispute file.

Sincerely,

Tandy Yull
Senior Manager, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Broadcasting

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