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Bell/Rogers to charge bar owners premium for TSN/Sportsnet

9K views 47 replies 23 participants last post by  17671 
#1 ·
#2 · (Edited)
This is sure going to make customers happy to find out the food and drinks at their sportsbar are going up because of the greedy SOB's from bell and rogers. Just one more reason to be despised by people.

They just don't get it, business practices like this are why they are so despised by many people in Canada.

I hope a lot of bars either tell them to pound salt or make sure to place any blame for increased prices directly on these two greedy media companies.

Just disgusting that these two companies think they can just get away with basically anything in their govt created monopoly.
 
#6 ·
Hopefully this will cause a few places to drop it. I often go out with friends and find it very annoying to always have a game on, when we're not there to watch it. I am perfectly capable of watching at home, should I choose to. I, for one, want to see a lot fewer TVs when I go out. They are simply annoying.
 
#14 ·
There are actually people employed that go to establishments such as bars, pubs, etc. to make sure they are paying properly for their sports content.

I have a family member that works for NFL Canada and his job is to enforce their public TV rules, as well as trademarks (for example, if a pizza place advertises a Super Bowl special, or uses NFL logos in an ad without permission).

I remember back in the day that a big boxing match had the plug pulled at a local bar because of this type of enforcement.

It will only get worse with the more $$$ at stake for the content owners and distributors.
 
#8 ·
It's not surprising that they are increasing their fees for sports programming to sports bars. Sports is a costly huge business, and they know the value of their product to the bars.

Sports programming is the only reason I have a subscription to Bell, and I know I will be paying more for this every year. If they didn't have sports programming, Bell and Rogers would be out of business as satellite and cable companies.
 
#13 ·
Dish & Direct & the cable companies do the sme in the US. How they get around it is if a bar or business want either cable or sat for their customers, the providers they call it "commercial hook up" there for charge a higher rate for the entire service not just "sports channels". I knew a persom that owned a bar and he used C/KU Band and he was charged a "Commercial rent" for his sports bar.

Just like if you own a sports bar and live above your business, you can't take the cable from your home and use it in your bar.

I can see Bell's & Rogers point of view, because actually your using their service as "commercial" aspect and not residential? Although they shouldn't be charging wextras for TSN & Sportnert, they should just charge a "commercial rate" for the entire service.
 
#15 ·
They already do that, though. A bar already pays extra for cable because of how they're using it.

What they're doing here is removing sports from that, and charging extra on top of the extra they're already charging. Why? Because they can. It's great to be in a basically competition free market.
 
#17 ·
Guess Bell now knows what is happening in the Dakotas! Notwithstanding the authoritarian tactics of Bell/Rogers the infamous CRTC announces today the naming of meeting rooms after well know Canadian broadcasters....great sense of timing. So happy to see dad's name on the plaque next to the door. In addition may get some indication of the new internet tax in todays budget...maybe not...just saying!
 
#19 ·
A buddy of mine, his brother used to have the commercial ppv rights for boxing and UFC fights. I was shocked at how much the bars had to pay, something like 10 bucks a person based on the capacity on the liquor license. He had people that went to bars to make sure that no one was showing it on a home ppv deal, and he paid out a pretty penny to anyone that reported a bar showing it that hadn't paid.
 
#20 ·
This was mentioned on the CBC news this evening. They interviewed a bar owner. The bar had been paying about the same as a home customer. However, the home customer is not using the sports channels to bring in customers, as the bar is. These bars are using those sports broadcasts to bring in customers. They are profiting from making them available. They should be paying significantly more than a home viewer.
 
#21 ·
That was my question.

Is there a difference in what a home viewer pays vs say what a commercial place like a restaurant/bar pays?

Generally, a home user, the license that we pay is for home use. Yeah sure, we can have a large group there potentially to watch it.. but its designed to watch there, not broadcast to a larger group per say. Not in a commercial setting.
And potentially make money off of it, as mentioned.


Thats one thing i often always see with a lot of people with businesses (smaller ones mostly, but can be all)
Sure, you want to save as much as you can, keep the profit higher.
But the amount who often will have a job which REQUIRES and or rely solely on internet.. will get upset when they are on a home based internet, which is generally not guaranteed the same as a business one, is not stable/down. But at the same time, they wont pay MORE for the business internet, as they dont want to pay it.
 
#22 ·
The CBC report was interesting, as both TSN and Sportsnet want to charge an establishment different rates based on how many people they sit. It sounds like the business rate the bar on the CBC story is paying was lower then what I use to pay for Bell TV!

The CBC story showed the rate chart - I was wondering if anyone got a good screenshot of it, or knew where a copy was (just curious what the rates were). The bar in the story looked like an average size pub, and they claimed that TSN/Sportsnet would be over $4000 a year.

Here is the CBC Text version of the story:
Bell and Rogers to ask bars to pay more for sports packages - Business - CBC News
 
#25 ·
A couple of pubs I go to are not 'sports bars' and don't advertise themselves as such. But they still have TVs everywhere showing the 'game' be it NFL,NHL,MLB. I may be alone in this but I'll be happy if this causes them to stop the sports. I am content that sports bars show as many sports as they wish.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
#27 ·
The interesting part I didn't realize that they are only doing this to establishments with liquor licenses.

So my local auto repair shop, barber, Canadian Tire, Pizza Pizza, dentist, doctor, Popeye's chicken, etc. still doesn't need to pay extra for TSN/SN.

I also wonder how many places that serve alcohol but aren't really sports bars (restaurants with a small bar area and a TV or two) will just forgo the TSN/SN package and show sports on U.S. networks, CBC, CTV, etc. when they are on. For example, the local Swiss Chalet has a small bar area that I've never seen anyone sit at, let alone watch sports on the TV.
 
#28 ·
Max. Capacity | Sportsnet | TSN | Total | $/seat | $/seat/day
25 | 75 | 60 | 135 | 5.40 | 0.18
50 | 75 | 90 | 165 | 3.30 | 0.11
75 | 100 | 120 | 220 | 2.93 | 0.10
100 | 100 | 150 | 250 | 2.50 | 0.08
150 | 125 | 180 | 305 | 2.03 | 0.07
200 | 158 | 210 | 368 | 1.84 | 0.06
300 | 200 | 240 | 440 | 1.47 | 0.05
500 | 250 | 270 | 520 | 1.04 | 0.03
750 | 308 | 300 | 608 | 0.81 | 0.03
1000 | 375 | 300 | 675 | 0.68 | 0.02

I took a couple of screencaps from the Toronto video early this morning and transcribed the monthly charges into a spreadsheet (I think it's the same link that @MCIBUS posted afterwards.) I calculated the cost per seat to put things into perspective for a sports bar that uses the games as the main attraction.
 
#29 ·
For example, the local Swiss Chalet has a small bar area that I've never seen anyone sit at, let alone watch sports on the TV.
Yep, and there are a HELL of a lot more of those than "sports bars" and sports do NOT drive customers. One chain restaurant owner (who wouldn't give his name because corporate doesn't allow him to speak) said for his 11 restaurants the cost would be $50K a year, something he felt wasn't worth it but he might be forced to eat it because of his franchisee agreement.

I suspect this grab by Rogers and Bell will end up revenue neutral. What they gain on higher fees they lose on a lower subscriber base.
 
#31 ·
^^^^
What really gets me is businesses that don't want to pay the cost of doing business. For example, many complain minimum wages shouldn't be raised because it will cost them more. Well:
a) It would also affect their competitors, so there's no difference in competition
b) Why do some employers think they have a right to keep employees in poverty?

There are plenty of other examples where businesses think they have a right to push their costs onto others, instead of accepting that's just the cost of doing business.

This is the situation here. If a business is using sports on TV to drag in customers, then they should be paying more for those channels, instead of expecting others to subsidize their business.

And I, for one, would like to see a lot fewer TVs in bars, restaurants, etc..
 
#40 ·
^^^^
What really gets me is businesses that don't want to pay the cost of doing business. For example, many complain minimum wages shouldn't be raised because it will cost them more.
James, a little off topic but we all know what happens to hiring new employees and current staffing levels when minimum wages go up. It is an inverse relationship.

Same can be said of these price increases to sports bars by Rogers and Bell.
 
#32 ·
A TV in a commercial establishment is considered to be a public performance. That's true of recorded music, live music and movies as well as TV. Businesses have had to pay extra for public performances ever since copyright laws were enacted. Those that don't are subject to fines and sanctions. So TSN and Sportsnet just decided to raise their rates for public performances? I'm surprised they didn't do it years ago. Is the guy who is already paying $4 for a $1 beer going to complain about paying $4.25? I doubt it. He's still going to enjoy the game.
 
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