Date Closed

January 20, 2020

Lead Office

Montréal

On January 20, 2020, the Superior Court of Quebec rejected an interlocutory injunction brought against Bell Media in Videotron Ltd. c. Bell Media Inc.

The purpose of Videotron's injunction was to compel Bell Media to continue to transmit its programming service "Super Ecran" in its current broadcast form, despite the fact that Bell had implemented plans to migrate parts of the service from a television platform to direct Internet access and despite Videotron’s own earlier termination of its distribution agreements with Bell. Bell argued that it had provided proper notice of the discontinuation of the television service, and that the contract preventing it from migrating the Super Ecran service to Internet distribution had not been renewed.

Chief Justice Jacques R. Fournier agreed with Bell in the interpretation of the contract. He stated that the right to which Videotron claimed, for the service to continue in its current form for at least several more months, was non-existent. The Court had otherwise initially granted confidentiality orders in favor of Bell Media protecting the confidentiality of exhibits, examination transcripts and certain allegations of Videotron’s injunction proceeding.

Bell Media, the mass media subsidiary of BCE Inc, is home to leading assets in television, radio, out-of-home advertising, and digital media throughout Canada.

McCarthy Tetrault advised Bell Media with a team led by Jean Lortie that included Isabelle Vendette, Patrick Ostiguy and Steven Mason.