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The explosion of the fees demanded by French-language sports channels RDS and TVA Sports from bars and restaurants have caused many of them to drop out of showing the channels entirely.

While sports bars had no choice but to live with the new “salary cap” imposed at the beginning of the 2018-19 season, some rationalized their use, others changed their packages or selected channels without additional fees, while most establishments where sports is not essential simply dropped the two services. Some have chosen solutions whose legality is doubtful.

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Quebec was the last Canadian territory where restaurants had not yet been hit by the escalating costs broadcasters have been paying to acquire rights to broadcast National Hockey League games. In November 2013, Rogers signed a 12-year national rights deal with the league for $5.2 billion, reselling French-language rights to Québecor’s TVA Sports. The next month, RDS signed a new deal, also for 12 years, for the regional rights to Montreal Canadiens games. Both RDS and TVA Sports spend tens of millions of dollars a year on NHL rights alone, far more than RDS spent on all NHL rights when it was the only francophone sports channel.