A few weeks ago, BMO hosted its annual Media and Telecom Conference.
The transformation of the delivery of video content was a recurring theme from many of the speakers. As recently as 5 years ago, most of us received our video content from conventional cable companies on our TV sets.
As we have been hearing at The Canadian Telecom Summit, the speakers at the BMO event referred to the evolution of video over three screens – TV, computer and mobile devices. Bell CEO George Cope observed that content has been one of Bell’s fastest growing costs. Bell’s acquisition of CTV was a result of Bell not wanting to be in a position of having to pay broadcasters and telecom competitors Rogers, Shaw or Videotron for the material that has been feeding its fast growing video business.
Videotron is looking to mirror its offerings across its cable, internet and new mobile platforms. It also suggested that owning content allows it to negotiate access to other content from a position of strength.
Will TELUS be able to rely on regulations to ensure that it has sufficient access to content at a cost effective price? Will other non- integrated service providers be able to compete, operating solely in mobile or internet markets?