The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » Bell/Rogers “Pick & Pay A La Carte” Prices Now Online

RadioActive · November 30, 2016 12:49 pm

The long awaited pick and pay a la carte pricing system starts Dec. 1st, but both of the big players have now unveiled the list of what they’ll charge for most individual stations. But you need to subscribe to at least a starter basic (that $25 thing the CRTC mandated) to add on anything.

The two most popular numbers seem to be $4 and $7 for some of the basics, while not surprisingly the sports outlets are a lot more - if you can find them.

Most news channels, for example, like CNN and CP24, are all pegged at seven bucks a month, while Fox News is only $4 per on both systems.Bell wants that amount for CBC News Network, while Rogers is only trying to claw $4 out of you for the same privilege.

SportsNet 360 goes for $4 at Bell, although I don’t see any of the other SNs listed at all. Rogers has all of them, most at $15 every calendar change. TSN 1 on Rogers is a painful (or should that be pay-in-full?) $18 a month, while I don’t even see it in Bell’s offerings as a stand-alone at all.

So far, in my tiptoeing through these two lists I have yet to come across any listings for any of the major movie networks, like TMN or HBO, and I’m wondering if they’re somehow not included – which, to my mind, wouldn’t be in the spirit of the CRTC edict.

Anyway, although they don't make it that easy to find them all, if you scroll through the channels you can see them for yourselves here.

Rogers a la carte

Bell a la carte

One last note: I couldn’t find any long list of prices on the Shaw Direct site, although they have a “pick and pay” area – just without any real dollar values beside most of the channels, which is pretty much useless. Perhaps they’ll update it on Dec. 1st..

Oh and one more P.S.: The Rogers/Shaw grand "Shomi" experiment goes dark tomorrow, just as this new system begins.

Last edited by RadioActive (November 30, 2016 1:09 pm)

Leslieville Bill · November 30, 2016 1:39 pm

As expected, there are no deals with single channels. For instance, Roger says the T+E channel is worth $4.00 a month. While a Theme Pack of 12 channels including T+E is $12.00 a month.

cGrant · November 30, 2016 2:15 pm

Leslieville Bill wrote:
As expected, there are no deals with single channels. For instance, Roger says the T+E channel is worth $4.00 a month.

??? If the channel is selling for $4, then how are there no deals for single channels. Did people honestly expect them to sell the channels for pennies on the dollar?

RadioActive · November 30, 2016 2:42 pm

From The Canadian Press:

Skinny cable rules in full effect Dec. 1 as CRTC mandates more choice

And while no one expected "pennies on the dollar" prices, based on past practices, there's no reason to believe they would try to make any of them affordably attractive to subscribers. Some choice quotes from the story illustrate why:

“The big concern is ... that the telcos are going to attempt to skirt the spirit of the law and price Canadians out of these channels in another attempt to keep them trapped in expensive bundles,” said OpenMedia spokeswoman Meghan Sali...

The fees for individual channels and small packages set by the cable providers will determine whether they’re attempting to improve affordability for Canadians, Sali said. Hopefully, the firms will realize there’s not a lot of wiggle room for interpretation in what the CRTC is demanding, she said.

“But I don’t think it’s going to be something that they’ll ... choose to do without that really strong enforcement by the CRTC.”

That "strong enforcement" may come, but the commission tried to send a message earlier this month, when it renewed their licences for only a single year, instead of the normal seven. We'll know in the next 365 if that was just lip service or if regulators really plan to do anything about what most consumers perceive as gouging by the big providers.

cGrant · November 30, 2016 3:02 pm

I am a staunch capitalist. And, as such, believe that they are entitled to price however they seem fit, keeping within the boundaries of any CRTC reg. That said, they'll go the same route as "skinny basic": making it impossible to save a buck, foregoing discounts, etc. With "pick n pay", they'll price each "popular" channel out of proportion and make it cheaper to stay within an existing bundle. They will exercise the spirit as opposed to the letter of the law.

As a point of interest: Cogeco has had the MyMix 10, 20, 30 and 40 (pick and subscribe) bundles for a while. Believe it or not, I selected the MyMix 10 as ten additional channels to basic are all I and my family watch. We've been very satisfied. (But, then again, I am not a corporate basher, relenting to believing the deep dark Illuminati-manufactured party-lines that I frequently come across.)

Leslieville Bill · November 30, 2016 3:08 pm

cGrant wrote:
I am a staunch capitalist

So damn the CRTC and Canadian content/ownership regulations, we should have unbridled access to any foreign channels and telecommunication services?

cGrant · November 30, 2016 3:17 pm

Leslieville Bill wrote:
we should have unbridled access to any foreign channels and telecommunication services?

And why not? Do we not have a strong enough culture to sustain the big, bad, evil foreign signal? Damn: Canada and Canadians are in MUCH worse shape than I thought! Paging... American Boogeyman... paging.

unclefester · November 30, 2016 3:21 pm

cGrant wrote:
They will exercise the spirit as opposed to the letter of the law.

I am not a corporate basher

Thanks for making your views crystal clear,...

It would seem the CRTC isn't any where near finished with these people on this issue...

RadioActive · December 1, 2016 12:46 pm

This result was completely predictable.

From the CBC:

'Ridiculous': Customers disappointed by new pick and pay TV

cGrant · December 1, 2016 1:11 pm

RadioActive wrote:
This result was completely predictable.

When IS the consumer ever happy? What did they really expect? Some kind of panacea and realization by the cable companies that they should sell at a loss so the lady's 88 year old mother can live out the rest of her waning days watching blue-hair memorabilia on the Shopping Channel?

Dial Twister · December 1, 2016 3:28 pm

As long as the majority of the content is owned by the same corporate structure which distributes it, and as long as any foreign competition is prevented, I'll have no sympathy for so-called "free market" corporate whining.

The only "free market" activity being conducted in Canada is the plundering of Canadians by a tiny number of corporate entities. This they will continue to do until the final customer is driven away. The stampede for the exits has only just begun.

unclefester · December 1, 2016 3:52 pm

cGrant wrote:

The consumer? What did they really expect?

Can't speak for anyone else but I expected exactly what they've shoveled us here...

Like I said the CRTC isn't done with these folks yet...

cGrant · December 1, 2016 4:07 pm

unclefester wrote:
Can't speak for anyone else but I expected exactly what they've shoveled us here...

And, yet, the CBC/TorStar/left-wing media will find the one person who expected a substantial savings. Shocker. Survey the same person and they believe in the Tooth Fairy/Santy Claus/and the Wynne government.

As for foreign protectionism, doesn't the CRTC have a hand in this? Is this a chicken and egg situation where the CRTC forbade foreign signals or corporations demanded it? The memory fades.

radiokid · December 1, 2016 6:26 pm

unless it's changed.... Bell was offering build your own 10packs at reduced rates... That's reasonable to me. The prices are way too high if they expect to stop cord cutting though.

Last edited by radiokid (December 1, 2016 7:03 pm)

Radiowiz · December 1, 2016 6:47 pm

cGrant wrote:
??? If the channel is selling for $4, then how are there no deals for single channels. Did people honestly expect them to sell the channels for pennies on the dollar?

Single channel pricing is now set too high. The channels are NOT selling for $4...they're being offered for that. There's a difference.
I took marketing, and (like it or not) happen to be a so called expert on equilibrium pricing.

The missing information is the true cost of providing that stand alone channel in your home.
If the cost is low, then I'd rather have 8 people paying 50 cents than to have everyone saying "No thanks!".

But again, if it's costing more than 50 cents to get that channel delivered to your home each month...

The right to earn a profit is one thing, but the logic in how to make more money might very well be in the lower pricing range...at a crazy low price of 50 cents a channel.

We do after all, live in a world today where too many people are cutting the cord.

December 1, 2016 8:15 pm

Radiowiz wrote:
If the cost is low, then I'd rather have 8 people paying 50 cents than to have everyone saying "No thanks!".

But again, if it's costing more than 50 cents to get that channel delivered to your home each month...

The right to earn a profit is one thing, but the logic in how to make more money might very well be in the lower pricing range...at a crazy low price of 50 cents a channel.

You're right, but this is a unique situation. These channels are intentionally priced to *not* sell. This is set up to fail.

unclefester · December 1, 2016 9:46 pm

Don wrote:

.

This is set up to fail.

Just wait 'til the CRTC finds out !!

Last edited by unclefester (December 1, 2016 9:58 pm)

Justalistener · December 1, 2016 10:04 pm

RadioActive wrote:
I have yet to come across any listings for any of the major movie networks, like TMN or HBO, and I’m wondering if they’re somehow not included – which, to my mind, wouldn’t be in the spirit of the CRTC edict.

TMN & HBO are already a-la-carte. Always have been.

cGrant · December 1, 2016 10:50 pm

Radiowiz wrote:
Single channel pricing is now set too high. The channels are NOT selling for $4...they're being offered for that. There's a difference.
I took marketing, and (like it or not) happen to be a so called expert on equilibrium pricing.

Thank you, Radiowiz, for the laugh, you ARE very funny! Not only are the channels "offered" for that, they are also being sold at that price as well. And the value is that number..... And..... And.....

I took rhetorical double- speak and am an expert as well. In fact, we're all experts here. You get a car, and you get a car and you get a car -- you ALL get a car.......

Radiowiz · December 2, 2016 9:27 am

cGrant wrote:
Thank you, Radiowiz, for the laugh, you ARE very funny! Not only are the channels "offered" for that, they are also being sold at that price as well. And the value is that number..... And..... And.....

I took rhetorical double- speak and am an expert as well. In fact, we're all experts here. You get a car, and you get a car and you get a car -- you ALL get a car.......

I wonder how much longer the "Grandfathered" plans will hold on.
That's the mess I'm in.
Gameshow network is offered for $2, but I still have to pay $2.79 because I'm on a Grandfathered plan.
On an Ironic note, I can have Golf Channel for $2.79 for as long as I keep this Grandfathered plan.
(it's not offered for that price currently)

It's tough to know whether or not to let go of the Grandfathered plan. Rogers is now allowing me to drop down to the $25 plan and NOT get charged for the Next box 3.0 rental. (a $25-$27.50 value)
However, in doing so, I will forever lose the Extra plus package, which is no longer offered and I will have to pick and choose channels, which may lead to higher pricing.

It still boils down to the fact that I can cut back to $25 and get myself one of those non rogers boxes (ie http://myredrhinotv.com/) to pick up the remaining channels, maybe, plus only add $2 for Gameshow network.

The math still steers toward Rogers losing money in the end, that is, if people are willing to let go of grandfathered plans.
It sounds to me like Rogers is banking on the idea that people will not.
Charging $4 for a channel is indeed encouraging people to cut the cord.

Leslieville Bill · December 2, 2016 11:43 am

radiokid wrote:
Bell was offering build your own 10packs at reduced rates.

Now that is something I would be interested in. Wish Rogers had that.

cGrant · December 2, 2016 11:53 am

Leslieville Bill wrote:
radiokid wrote:
Bell was offering build your own 10packs at reduced rates.
Now that is something I would be interested in. Wish Rogers had that.

Cogeco has had the MyMix 10, 20, 30 and 40 packages since March 1st.

December 2, 2016 8:04 pm

cGrant wrote:
Radiowiz wrote:
Single channel pricing is now set too high. The channels are NOT selling for $4...they're being offered for that. There's a difference.
I took marketing, and (like it or not) happen to be a so called expert on equilibrium pricing.
Thank you, Radiowiz, for the laugh, you ARE very funny! Not only are the channels "offered" for that, they are also being sold at that price as well. And the value is that number..... And..... And.....

How do you know they're actually being 'sold' for that price? The information is buried, and the price deliberately set to be not worth undoing any existing packages or bundling. There is a big difference between "offered" and "sold."