Quebecor Will Scramble TVA Sports Signal For Bell Subs

Communications company Quebecor said that it will "follow through with its threat to scramble the signal of its TVA Sports channel" for subscribers for competing TV service Bell. This will start tomorrow, coinciding with the start of the NHL playoffs. In order to watch those games, Bell TV’s French-language customers "would have to subscribe to Sportsnet, owned by Rogers Media, which holds the exclusive English rights to broadcast the playoffs in Canada." They can also watch CBC for "some playoff matches" or "move to another provider, including Videotron, another Quebecor subsidiary" (CP, 4/9).