Article content continued

“Bell’s version of the public interest envisions a bigger Bell that provides more Bell services and content to consumers on Bell platforms — or on a competitor’s platform, but at Bell’s price and on Bell’s terms,” Ms. Lo said.

Peter Menzies, commissioner for Alberta and Northwest Territories, made the point that consumers have access to a wide variety of content online.

Ms. Lo responded that an abundance of content online does not address the issue of source diversity.

“It’s not just simply whether Canadians have access to a lot of different media, it’s whether Canadians have access to a diversity of media that’s owned by different corporate entities so that they can have different editorial opinions and benefit from access to those different editorial opinions,” she said.

While Canadians can cut their cable and turn to sources like Netflix and watch online content using Apple TV, she said, the pressure from so-called over-the-top offerings does not seem to have hurt the position of traditional television providers, known as broadcast distribution undertakings or BDUs.

“We’re still seeing BDU penetration at 89% which suggests to me that Canadians still view a traditional BDU service – access to news probably – as an essential component of their connection to society.”

PIAC, which appeared on behalf of consumer and senior’s groups, presented along with Dwayne Winseck, a professor at Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication.