Bell Media says ‘scheduling change’ behind decision to quietly remove film from streaming debut.
A MuchMusic documentary that was previously criticized for drawing heavily from the vast history of popular music has been withdrawn from its scheduled Crave premiere.
A “scheduling change” was the reason given by Bell Media representatives on Monday for their decision to covertly pull 299 Queen Street West from its scheduled premiere on the channel and its streaming service last Friday.
They did not provide information on the choice.
The two-hour film traces the history of the national music channel starting with its early days as an upstart Toronto station, including voiceovers from MuchMusic celebrities and archival footage.
Numerous brief musical performance snippets, including ones of a young Avril Lavigne and an acoustic performance, were included in the version of the film that was shown during a roadshow tour last year.
The director thought those briefs qualified as fair dealing.
Filmmaker Sean Menard revealed to The Canadian Press in October of last year that big companies, such as Universal Music Canada, were attempting to halt the nationwide screening tour and informed him that the movie featured music from their artists that was not authorized.
In a statement at the time, Universal indicated that no legal action was being pursued and that discussions were in progress over the licensing of its recorded music.
