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[vox]

from my buddy back in the Maritimes...

Company News Alert for Rogers Communications The $2-million comma
GRANT ROBERTSON

It could be the most costly piece of punctuation in Canada.

A grammatical blunder may force *Rogers Communications Inc.* to pay an extra
$2.13-million to use utility poles in the Maritimes after the placement of a
comma in a contract permitted the deal's cancellation.

The controversial comma sent lawyers and telecommunications regulators
scrambling for their English textbooks in a bitter 18-month dispute that
serves as an expensive reminder of the importance of punctuation.

Rogers thought it had a five-year deal with *Aliant Inc.* to string Rogers'
cable lines across thousands of utility poles in the Maritimes for an annual
fee of $9.60 per pole. But early last year, Rogers was informed that the
contract was being cancelled and the rates were going up. Impossible, Rogers
thought, since its contract was iron-clad until the spring of 2007 and could
potentially be renewed for another five years.

Armed with the rules of grammar and punctuation, Aliant disagreed. The
construction of a single sentence in the 14-page contract allowed the entire
deal to be scrapped with only one-year's notice, the company argued.

Language buffs take note -- Page 7 of the contract states: The agreement
"shall continue in force for a period of five years from the date it is
made, and thereafter for successive five year terms, unless and until
terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party."

Rogers' intent in 2002 was to lock into a long-term deal of at least five
years. But when regulators with the Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) parsed the wording, they reached
another conclusion.

The validity of the contract and the millions of dollars at stake all came
down to one point -- the second comma in the sentence.

Had it not been there, the right to cancel wouldn't have applied to the
first five years of the contract and Rogers would be protected from the
higher rates it now faces.

"Based on the rules of punctuation," the comma in question "allows for the
termination of the [contract] at any time, without cause, upon one-year's
written notice," the regulator said.

Rogers was dumbfounded. The company said it never would have signed a
contract to use roughly 91,000 utility poles that could be cancelled on such
short notice. Its lawyers tried in vain to argue the intent of the deal
trumped the significance of a comma. "This is clearly not what the parties
intended," Rogers said in a letter to the CRTC.

But the CRTC disagreed. And the consequences are significant.

The contract would have shielded Rogers from rate increases that will see
its costs jump as high as $28.05 per pole. Instead, the company will likely
end up paying about $2.13-million more than expected, based on rough
calculations.

Despite the victory, Aliant won't reap the bulk of the proceeds. The poles
are mostly owned by Fredericton-based utility NB Power, which contracted out
the administration of the business to Aliant at the time the contract was
signed.

Neither Rogers nor Aliant could be reached for comment on the ruling. In one
of several letters to the CRTC, Aliant called the matter "a basic rule of
punctuation," taking a swipe at Rogers' assertion that the comma could be
ignored.

"This is a classic case of where the placement of a comma has great
importance," Aliant said.

*The comma conflict*

*The disputed sentence:* "This agreement shall be effective from the date it
is made and shall continue in force for a period of five (5) years from the
date it is made, and thereafter for successive five (5) year terms, unless
and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party."

*How Rogers reads it:* The contract is good for five years and is
automatically renewed for successive five-year terms. The deal can not be
terminated within the first five-year term.

*How Aliant reads it:* The contract can be cancelled at any time provided
one-year notice is given.

*What the experts say: *The presence of the second comma means the
conditions of cancelling the contract apply to both the initial five-year
term and subsequent five-year terms.

[Wangja]

I can hear the anti-grammar squadies already: "Grammar doesn't matter".

Bollox.

[Bulsajo]

Rogers- due to an unfortunate and bizarre twist of events which includes a strike by linesmen and a merger of acquisitions of 3 comms corps- is my phone, cellphone, tv, and internet provider.
And I loathe them with a passion.

Me and other Rogers customers will get stuck paying for this, I'm sure.
And yet, this news makes my day.
Thanks for posting it!

[Hyeon Een]

I helped my uncle Jack off a horse.
I helped my uncle jack off a horse.

Which did I do? You wish you knew...

[captain planet]

when one of my kids forgets a period, i take $2.3 million from them.
seems reasonable.

and you obviously did both, because it's a given that you're into bestiality, and there's no way your fat uncle could keep his rear on a horse while you were busy fellating the poor thing.

[mindmetoo]

Eats, shoots, leaves. I believe the American government lost millions and millions in today's dollars on import duties due to an improperly placed comma.

http://www.canongate.net/Lists/Words/3FamousCommas