The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that a Federal Court has dismissed an appeal by Bell Mobility over how the company charged customers for its mobile television app. The Globe's Christine Dobby writes that the CRTC ruled in January,
2015, that Bell was offside in the pricing of its Mobile TV service, which lets customers stream live and on-demand television programming on their mobile devices. Bell previously charged $5 a month for the app and allowed users to stream up to 10 hours of programming with no impact on their monthly wireless data caps. The CRTC found this gave
Bell's own app an unlawful preference over other applications or Internet services, which do count against monthly data usage. Bell now charges $8 a month for
the app and applies standard rates for time spent viewing programs while using cellular data. A three-judge panel of the Federal Court of Appeal heard the case in January this year. Arguments in the case revolved around whether the app should be considered a broadcasting or telecom service. Telecom providers -- whether they sell Internet, home phone or wireless services -- are generally expected
to treat all of the content that flows through their networks equally.
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