Can you spell Monopoly?
The Toronto Star broke news this morning that Rogers (a media conglomerate, owner of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball club, the former SkyDome multi-sport stadium, cable monopolies throughout eastern Canada, and a collection of terrestrial and specialty cable channels) is planning to to buy 66% of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment for $1.3 billion.
In doing so, they will gain control of three more top-league sports teams in the Toronto/Southern Ontario market: the Toronto Maple Leafs (hockey), Toronto Raptors (basketball), and Toronto FC (soccer). The only televised teams missing are the Toronto Rock (lacrosse, a relatively low-profile sport) and Argonauts (football, in the relatively low-profile-versus-its-American-counterpart Canadian Football League). This would also grant them control of a second stadium downtown (and operations of a third).
No matter how you slice it, getting a controlling stake in MLSE would give Rogers an effective monopoly in sports entertainment in the Toronto market. This is troublesome not only because of the anticompetitive practices such a conglomeration allows, but also because Rogers has demonstrated they're perfectly comfortable taking advantage of them.
As of the 2010 baseball season, Rogers Sportsnet (a basic cable channel) became the exclusive television broadcaster for Jays games. While this transition was known in advance of the season beginning, in March Rogers got a license for a new channel, Sportsnet One.
25 games late in the season were carried on this new channel, and while the channel was available for a free preview, it would hardly be surprising if next year, subscribers will need to pay extra to see the missing games.
What does this mean? Last I checked, Sportsnet's rival TSN is the most watched cable channel in Canada, having secured local TV rights to some MLSE properties. Some games are also shown on CBC, though Rogers wouldn't be allowed to touch many of those ones. By starving TSN of content, assuming the future broadcast rights for whatever they can get away with, Rogers will show it on channels they own instead. With a lack of much relevant content, Rogers could strike a significant blow against their rivals to better establish their sports channels in that market.
And I'd hate to imagine the amount of distortion they could pull off with that NFL team they want so badly...
In doing so, they will gain control of three more top-league sports teams in the Toronto/Southern Ontario market: the Toronto Maple Leafs (hockey), Toronto Raptors (basketball), and Toronto FC (soccer). The only televised teams missing are the Toronto Rock (lacrosse, a relatively low-profile sport) and Argonauts (football, in the relatively low-profile-versus-its-American-counterpart Canadian Football League). This would also grant them control of a second stadium downtown (and operations of a third).
No matter how you slice it, getting a controlling stake in MLSE would give Rogers an effective monopoly in sports entertainment in the Toronto market. This is troublesome not only because of the anticompetitive practices such a conglomeration allows, but also because Rogers has demonstrated they're perfectly comfortable taking advantage of them.
As of the 2010 baseball season, Rogers Sportsnet (a basic cable channel) became the exclusive television broadcaster for Jays games. While this transition was known in advance of the season beginning, in March Rogers got a license for a new channel, Sportsnet One.
25 games late in the season were carried on this new channel, and while the channel was available for a free preview, it would hardly be surprising if next year, subscribers will need to pay extra to see the missing games.
What does this mean? Last I checked, Sportsnet's rival TSN is the most watched cable channel in Canada, having secured local TV rights to some MLSE properties. Some games are also shown on CBC, though Rogers wouldn't be allowed to touch many of those ones. By starving TSN of content, assuming the future broadcast rights for whatever they can get away with, Rogers will show it on channels they own instead. With a lack of much relevant content, Rogers could strike a significant blow against their rivals to better establish their sports channels in that market.
And I'd hate to imagine the amount of distortion they could pull off with that NFL team they want so badly...