VMedia believed that it had a legitimate interpretation of the law and sought the court's direction to validate that interpretation. At issue was VMedia's new service, which offered a so-called "skinny basic" cable package through a Roku app. Bell contended VMedia was violating the Copyright Act by retransmitting its signals over the internet. In court VMedia argued that — like cable and satellite companies — it is a licensed Broadcasting Distribution Undertaking (BDU), which is generally allowed to retransmit over-the-air TV signals at no cost. And yet, as a cable company, Bell is entitled to retransmit some copyrighted content for free.

Source: CBC News November 23, 2016 17:08 UTC