Sportsnet 650’s demise reminds us that lack of competition is bad for Canadians

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Does the Competition Bureau have concerns about how little competition there now is, not just in sports ownership in Toronto — with Rogers having purchased the entirety of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment — but more broadly across Canada?

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Technology and popular behaviour have shifted how media operates, but how is it a good thing that Canada’s third-largest city is losing two locally focused radio stations because of the financial expectations of Bay Street? What matters more: local communities, or centralized power?

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This is the question I sent to the national regulator Wednesday morning.

It’s a question I should have asked when Rogers acquired Bell’s stake nearly two years ago. Or maybe we all should have shouted aloud about the idea of a broadcaster buying any part of a team when the two telcos teamed up in 2012 to buy 75 per of MLSE. Rogers now controls all the big-league teams in Toronto.

“It gives us even more opportunity to invest in championship-calibre teams, create unique experiences for customers and fans, and unlock long-term value for shareholders,” Rogers chief executive Tony Staffieri crowed in a news release this week.

A day later, his company dumped a whole bunch of employees over the side. The idea that they are going to juice up the Leafs, Raptors, Blue Jays, Argos or Toronto FC strains credulity. The final part of Staffieri’s statement is the only one you can believe: It’s about the shareholders. It’s not about the fans, or Canada in general. It’s about making more by doing less.

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It’s a terrible week for Canada. There is just no way it makes sense that having all of the major teams in Toronto being owned by Rogers is good for anyone but a handful of people sitting in fancy offices downtown. Canadians sports fans deserve competition. Otherwise you get served the same thing across the board.

Nor is it a good thing that Rogers controls so much of the Canadian media landscape, be it sports or otherwise.

The consolidation of traditional media has not improved the country’s discourse. It has made it shallower, less interesting, less vital.

At the same time, the emergence of new technologies has greatly reduced barriers in how people can broadcast their own voice. On the whole this is a good thing — people have opinions, they should be able to share them.

But we must also not lose sight of the value of expertise. We are not better off living in a world where we mostly just get people hyping up news releases or otherwise sharing information that’s devoid of context. As my friend reporter Justin McElroy noted on Wednesday, over the course of his career — which tracks with mine — we have lost a multitude of news organizations in this city alone. Think of the Georgia Straight, Metro, 24 Hours, the Vancouver Courier, TSN 1040, CKNW and Global being separate operations, The Sun and The Province being independent of each other … and now Sportsnet 650 and News1130.

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The trend is countrywide and it’s been driven chiefly by tech companies looking to flip society over, trapping us all inside their self-interested (and un-Canadian) bottom lines.

“They were all media organizations in the City of Vancouver that paid people decent wages to report on what was happening in our city,” McElroy noted on his own Facebook page. “They all used a code of ethics, training, mentorship, group discussions and sharing of best practices to make sure stories were fair, deeply sourced, and had a big impact while appealing to as large of an audience as possible.”

This is not to say we shouldn’t be using new technology or new ways to deliver our stories. Far from it. But we also shouldn’t hand over control of what our society should be to a bunch of tech billionaires, whether they are in Silicon Valley or in downtown Toronto, only interested in swelling their wealth and consolidating their power. There are certainly a handful of new voices that have thrived using the new tech, but as McElroy notes, we shouldn’t miss that behind the five success stories are the 200 people who were also working hard, who were contributing to our common knowledge, who have lost their jobs because of corporate whatever, because of legislative cowardice.

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Word in radio circles is that in 2009, stations in Vancouver sold something like $125 million in ads. In the modern era, it’s something like $50 million. Where did the $75 million go? Mostly to a pair of American tech conglomerates. That doesn’t seem in our national interest.

It is the job of our regulators to say “enough” when monopolies emerge. Why is the federal government allowing Rogers to control all the teams and the airwaves while we are also sending them journalism subsidy money? The company I work for takes that money too, let’s be clear, and is using it for its intended purpose, to pay salaries, to keep people employed.

More competition between media operations and sports teams is better for everyone. It means more jobs and it means more things to look at and listen to and read about. It’s time for the people in charge to figure out how to lead the way and fix all this.

For the record, I did hear back from the Competition Bureau. They did make note of the latest Rogers transaction.

“The Bureau may review any merger or acquisition, which includes transactions that are not subject to mandatory pre-merger notification, to protect and promote competition in Canada,” as spokesperson acknowledged in an email. If they see a problem, they send it to a tribunal, who can block the merger.

So is this one being reviewed?

“The Bureau is required by law to conduct its work in private,” was the reply. “Therefore, I am unable to confirm whether we are reviewing this transaction, nor would it be appropriate to comment further on the matter.”

Privacy for the rich guys. That’s nice. It’s the people who do the work, as always, who are left in the dark.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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