Bell Canada Launches Crappy Download Video Store Just As It Gets Scrutiny Over Traffic Shaping

from the odd-timing dept

Fri, May 23rd 2008 1:17pm — Mike Masnick

Bell Canada is having something of an odd week. It's finally coming under regulatory scrutiny for its traffic shaping efforts -- and also ran into unexpected problems in its attempt to go private. So why would it choose this time to launch a dreadful new video download store that is pretty much guaranteed not to get any use in the first place? The system seems to have all the worst features of the various movie download sites that have failed so miserably in years past: extremely limited selection, annoying and buggy Microsoft DRM and high prices. Fantastic deal, right? But, even more bizarre is the very concept of launching a movie download site at the very same time you're claiming that the old internet tubes are getting way too clogged, requiring those traffic shaping efforts. If it's such a problem, why would Bell Canada then contribute to the clogging in that way? Maybe they think they need the additional traffic to "prove" why traffic shaping is necessary. Of course, since the service won't get much use, that plan probably won't get very far.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: canada, drm, traffic shaping, video downloads
Companies: bell canada

4 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 23 May 2008 @ 4:36pm

Well, duh. Who didn't see this coming? It's the same reason that Comcast is seeking to "partner with P2P torrent services". So that htey can filter out everything else, but allow P2P specifically for services that *they* offer (so they'll suck up your bandwidth that you're going to get banned over AND charge you for it AND prevent you from using a competitor).
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Shuryno, 23 May 2008 @ 5:08pm

Seriously
Bell is teh Evil. It's one of the worst companie in Canada, The only reason they still have customers is the fact they own all DSL network in Quebec and most in Canada.

I hope new infrastructures will see be installed and that real competitors will arise. No business can survive with this type of behavior if you don't have a (former)monopoly. This is not their only problem, everything about them is wrong. It's sad , because it's the biggest private companie in Canada(Probably won't be for very long)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
PierreB, 23 May 2008 @ 5:27pm

Bell does it again
Bell has an uncanny ability to choose the worst technology possible and follow that by a mediocre implementation.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
PRMan, 23 May 2008 @ 6:05pm

Of course everyone will use it...
...there won't be any competition!
[ link to this | view in thread ]