Canadian Cable Companies Make A Mockery Of Government's Push For Cheaper TV
from the forced-innovation dept
So far, the Canadian government's attempt to force innovation and lower prices on the Canadian TV industry doesn't appear to be going so well. As previously noted, the government has demanded that all Canadian cable TV operators begin offering a so-called "skinny" bundles of smaller, cheaper channels starting this month, and the option to buy channels "a la carte" starting in December. But this being the cable industry, companies are finding all manner of ways to tap dance over, under and around the requirements.Bell's solution is to offer a skinny bundle, but hide it from the company's customers. And while most Canadian operators last week unveiled discounted base bundles starting at around $25, they've saddled the options with all manner of fees to ensure that once a customer actually gets their bill, their prices remain as high as always. DVR rental fees, home gateway rental fees, HD fees, "digital service fees," fees for additional channel packs (since the core pack is intentionally left sparse), and installation fees all quickly demolish any proposed savings.
And companies like Rogers have generously gotten ahead of the December requirement for individual channel purchases, by offering sports channels a la carte -- but at the rock-bottom price of $18 a piece:
Ahead of the Canadian rollout, major cable operator Rogers Communications began offering two sports add-ons — TSN and Sportsnet — at $18 each, bringing a sports fan's bill to a minimum $61 a month, not much below the $66 a month for a similar sports-included package that has 230 more channels.The same thing is happening over at Shaw, where customers will be paying a pretty penny to nab the channels they actually want:
Prices for Shaw’s pick-and-pay channels, which include A&E, CNBC and Fox News among others, range between $3 and $5 per month. More popular channels, like AMC, Bravo and CNN, are only available if you purchase them in $6-$8 channel bundles. Premium movie channels, meanwhile, are priced at $18 per month.So a move that the CRTC insisted would usher in an "era of choice for Canadian television viewers," appears to be doing nothing of the sort, with most of the bundles designed specifically to make them as unappealing as possible. One Bell employee tells the CBC the company's intentionally making the new bundles "unbuyable," while "just sort of giving the CRTC the finger." And while Canadian Law Professor remains optimistic that the CRTC's gambit will work, it remains unclear precisely when or how this is supposed to happen.
Granted it's early, but whether or not the CRTC's push for flexible options actually works will depend largely on whether the regulator is willing to call the industry's bluff on below-the-line fee shenanigans, something North American regulators as a whole aren't known for. And as with the attempt to disrupt the lowly cable box here in the States, one's left wondering if it doesn't make more sense for regulators to give up on trying to "fix" a TV model that's slowly-but surely dying, and focus any serious regulatory efforts on making sure there's broadband competition so that these same companies can't use usage caps to hinder Internet video competition.
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: a la carte, canada, hidden, tv
Companies: bell, rogers, shaw
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Wondering
"Prices for Shaw’s pick-and-pay channels, which include A&E, CNBC and Fox News among others, range between $3 and $5 per month. More popular channels, like AMC, Bravo and CNN, are only available if you purchase them in $6-$8 channel bundles. Premium movie channels, meanwhile, are priced at $18 per month."
So I am kind of curious if those prices are in the quoted case Shaw's fault or the fault of the channels for demanding a high price`which makes the whole thing rather unattractive?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Wondering
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
That said, the telco and cable industry is very corporatist, very regulated, and they have essentially purchased all the right people to make sure they can maintain their illegitimate monopoly (like how AT&T wrote the regulation in various US states). This is creeping fascism; the State should not have nearly as much control and "oversight" as they do in the cable/internet provider industry. They've more or less become like public utilities which have no interest in innovating and are rife with inefficiency. So while I cannot endorse any government passing laws to force companies to better their products, I can't help but imagine the counterfactual scenario we could be enjoying if the telco/cable industry weren't dominated by stifling laws and anti-trust regulation.
http://www.businessinsider.com/historical-price-trends-for-tech-products-2015-10
I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest its government regulation that explains the chart in the above article.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
The problem is easily solved if the network is treated like a utility and all content providers have access to a network and compete that way. Saves cost as there only needs to be 1 network and raises competition because content providers have to compete on the product they deliver without the monopoly of a network.
Same problem with broadband and telco's who al invest in having their own network which is a waste of material resources/energy/maintenance but good for the wallet.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Cable TV relies on a constant stream of programming to function. Which in turn requires paying PEOPLE to constantly be performing monkeys for the moving picture box. Not to mention the constantly demand for innovation in DVR, on Demand, variety in programming/channels.. ect ect.
It is easy to see why Cable has continued to rise in price.
But you always could just....not pay it....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No doubt, it is a deliberate pricing strategy by Shaw. If you can get the same channels in a collection for less, that is the only conclusion. See http://www.shaw.ca/bundles/
"we're going to force you to take Food, HGTV, and National Geographic, Show Time and so on - even if you don't want them - so as to maximize what it costs to get the channels you want." Obvious strategy... maximize revenue.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
I'm not condoning the practice at all, but there are restrictions that the cable companies face from the broadcasters that are beyond their control from a licensing perspective
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Sorry, but in Canada, the sports channels are also owned by the cable companies. So they have full control. They are setting the price high because they want people to keep the packages so they can claim a huge subscriber base for channels nobody ever watches.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
When the price of oil is high pirates have a go at it anywhere they can and when it's not pirates move on to more lucrative things.
Stop piracy - align your senses of entitlement with reality
And fuck cable. It's high-time we swap roles.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
So you want cable to do WHAT again?
EUWWWW, you've been watching too much anime tentacle porn. May I suggest something nice and calming, like the anime Corpse Party?
That'll take where the sun don't shine" and put it in a slightly different perspective. The endings' nice though, when they get back at least they're still holding hands.
(Or do I misunderstand what we're talking about here?)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I decided not to play these games and just cut the cord and threw up a large Antenna. I've been free for 4 years and saving a bundle of money. I sure don't need 200+ channels of crap. The few channels most people want are in the much larger channel bundles almost forcing you to pay for all that garbage. I'd just rather not play that game. What I don't watch, I don't miss. I still have a ton of content to watch.
I didn't expect anything less from these company's. They'll find any and all loopholes to screw the customer over.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
ESPN Pricing
I know that cable companies pay $3.78 per customer for ESPN channels, and they are the highest, with some channels as low as $ .03 per customer, and averaging $ .22 per customer.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: ESPN Pricing
And that sort of thing was one of the reasons I ditched cable TV a decade or so ago.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
BCE (aka BEll) (sat tv, fibeTV, phones, etc) owns the biggest TV network, all of it's local affiliate stations, the biggest sat distribution company, the only real IP TV option, the local and long distance phones for a big part of the country, the major sports network, two of the biggest hockey teams, arenas, newspapers, radio stations... it's a long list:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BCE_Inc.
You can see the Canadian media ownership chart here: http://blog.fagstein.com/media-ownership-chart/ (and yes, Fagstein has a great blog about Canadian Media, Karl should read it more often!).
When you realize that the left hand and the right hand are from the same body, it's easy to see why pricing is as it is. There is no true competition, mostly coop-etition as each company gives the other enough space and enough income to profit.
If you understand that, you will understand why the posts here are sorely lacking in context.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]