SWO Rogers, channel 52 is now MTV, TGC is gone, and channel 66 is back to stupid ROgers channel. Why Rogers needs channel 66 who knows, put it to use. :(

Although channel 66 (the rogers channel) says SWO has MTV on channel 53, which just aint true, 53 is thescore.

I have Rogers digital in London. Right now, 52 is CNBC; 53 is MTV; 54 is The Score.

The Golf Channel was an essential inducement to the ultimate package provided by Rogers. It was a contract between the customer and the vendor, Rogers Cable, to sign up for this package. The basic rate to the ultimate rate is a 53% hike. They then introduced an additional fee of $ 2.99, another 11% oncrease over basic cable. So the cost has been hefty to attain the golf channel.

Despite the amount of time one has owned this package, nonetheless, the contract is implicit. We bought the Golf Channel and own it with the Ultimate package. The Golf Channel has negotiated with Roger's Cable to let the channel remain with current subscribers, but to no avail. Roger's, unilaterally, without the consent of the subscribers, removed this Golf Channel. They did not relegate it to oblivion, they did not cancel it, they placed it in a format that would require the already paying customer to pay more for it. It was of value to that share of the market, and since we paid for it, they have removed it as they want the customer to pay for more than what currently exists. It is only about money.

Now, Roger's is a cable monopoly in any subscriber's jurisdiction. If we did not like their arrogance and non-consultative "who cares about you approach" we cannot go across the street to another cable station to seek competition nor justice. They are the only game in town. Therefore, the average consumer must look at this relationship differently than if competition existed.

The Golf Channel has golf instruction, for which I would have to otherwise pay at a course, they have the Canadian tour, which is not accessible elsewhere, the have golf history, and specials, and insight, and news, and Canadian travelogues, and significant interviews, and , most of all, women's golf that has been relegated by the major networks to contractually go to the Golf Channel.

This will cost me money. This will effect Canadian tourism. This will cost the Canadian golf economy money. This is a an anti-Canadian, anti-women's sport move. This costs a good number of people who will now, not receive the Golf Channel.

It is indefensible to suggest that if we pay a little more, outside of the basic cable, outside of the ultimate package 53% increase, outside of the digital fee 11% increase, that we can then get the Golf Channel.It was ours, we owned it, it was stolen. Just a warning to pay more for it on Cable 410, with perhaps the purchase of another channel or sports package, another whopping increase. It is my belief that we have gone beyond that tipping point.

Much Music already exists. The Speed Channel showing the sport of car racing remains, not relegated to the sports package. So the argument for specialty music and sports channels already exists as these two channels remain. But the Golf Channel was taken because Canadian have the highest per capita golf participation in the world. Roger's will make us pay more to view our passion for golf, or to watch Mike Weir interviewed. When the next Olympics hosts golf as an event, it is Canada that are the gold medal defenders from George Lyons in the early 1900's. But we would either have to pay more to watch the Golf Channel cover that bit of Canadian History, or wait patiently for other sports channels to mention it on existing channels.

Arrogantly, Roger's makes the assertion that the CRTC does not have jurisdiction over this matter. That may be true, but certainly to make your local MP dance over this matter is why you pay them. But moreso, this is not a question of regulation. It is a question of common law, and common decency, and a customer/vendor relationship. When we purchased the Ultimate package it included the Golf Channel. It why many of us were induced to purchase it. It was a central part of that contract with Rogers.

Well, now that have committed a bait and switch. We may have owned the package for a while, it may have been years, but, nonetheless, it is a bait and switch. Perhaps, even worse. As we have purchased this product, inclusive of the Golf Channel, Roger's has then come to us, taken the product that we had purchased, and replaced it with an inferior product. The replacement is a matter of interpretation, but I believe it is an inferior product as I has purchased the Ultimate package and it had the Golf Channel ,and it did not have MTV...thank goodness.

Here is two other examples of a bait and switch. If I read in the newspaper, that they were selling Rolex watches for $400.00 dollars at a local jewellers I would be enticed to go to buy this object. When I arrived, there were no Rolex watches, but they were selling Timex's for the same price, and I was told they were just as good. So one purchased it and found out that not only did the merchant never sell any Rolex watches, but in fact, the Timex may have been of inferior quality.

Second example. If I were to buy a lot of cars from a vendor for a good price. This lot was inclusive of a couple of high end cars which, I believed made the purchase worthwhile. When I received the lot of cars, I discovered that the high end cars were missing, and were replaced with, what I judged, to be an inferior brand of vehicle, this too would be a bait and switch, and an illegal interaction.

Bait and switch is illegal in Canadian corporate law, and in common law. It is unfair, dishonest, and below community standards. Although this bait and switch with Roger's may have taken years, be it a bait and switch on the installment plan, or in slow motion, it was, nonetheless, a bait and switch for those of us who purchased the ultimate package for the Golf Channel.

It was stolen from us. It was taken without consultation. No one asked my opinion. If MTV was so important to inject into the ultimate package, then Roger's could have merely injected intot the ultimate package as a customer courtesy. But no, they can steal it from us, and make money on it elsewhere. I don't ever remember being consulted, I when I awoke this morning, the Golf Channel had been stolen from my cable televison for which I had paid.

I strongly suggest that everyone who is displeased or irrate with not just the Golf Cannel disappearing, but with the continuing arrogance of Roger's cable, write their Member of Parliament, write the Golf Channel, and tell Roger's how dissapointed they have become.

Further, the idea of small claims court for all of the above matters is not unreasonable. Well, when you add up the price of golf instruction at Golf Town that used to be $75.00 per 45 minutes, and compare that to the Golf Channel and their hourse of instruction that we had paid for through our cable bill, I would suggest that Roger's owes you alot of money in missed golf instruction. When one considers the bait and switch, that could be alot of money. When one considers the non-consultative process, one could consider theft of the removal of the Golf Channel from your home, of which you were paying. When one considers their monopoly, you were left with no recourse to complain or seek compensation.

These are the people who brought us negative billing, and had to retreat while they attempted to rip off customers. I'm sure many feel that if they could leave Roger's for another cable company, not satellite-that's another story, we would. But we are FORCED to consume a product that is intolerable. For this we should seek compensation. Stand up for yoursel, I know I will.

A bait/switch implies that you can't get the thing you want when you "go to the store". You CAN get the thing you want, you just (may) have to pay a new price, which is allowed under business practices.

Rogers is not considered a monopoly, since they have competition from satellite OTA, etc (which may or may not offer similar channels, prices). Rogers is regulated as well and works within those regulations.

You are not "forced" to consume anything. You may choose to go elsewhere, or buy nothing.

These channel changes and price changes happen all the time. A while back Rogers started charging for certain HD channels. Many consumers decided they didn't like the price, complained and the price was rolled back to roughly half at the time, however, Rogers had the right to charge what they wanted. They decided to respond to their customers at that time.

In other instances, they simply "do what they want" as long as it's legal. If enough people complain about Golf TV, perhaps you can get somewhere with Rogers. Good luck, but it's not bait/switch. Prices are constantly changing and YOU can decide if you wish to subscribe or not. No one is forcing you.

One solution for analog users is to upgrade to digital but dump the MeTV channels or the Plus. I (a digital subscriber) was planning on dumping MeTV today and using the savings to pay the extra $2.49 for TGC. However, TGC is still there on 410. But I don't need MeTV anymore because I only got it for TGC.

What I'm wondering is: if I drop MeTV will I lose TGC? When I signed up for MeTV they had to send a tech to my apartment building to throw a switch (or something like that). If somebody without MeTV decided today to add TGC, would they charge them $2.49 and would they have to come to their house? I mean, is TGC still on this MeTV circuit (for lack of a better term) that requires a tech to come to your house?

It seems odd that Rogers would move TGC to speciality but not make you pay for it, unless they are hoping to make it up by forcing people to upgrade to digital. I'm sure they have their reasons.

tomm4004: Any changes to the digital channels can be done from the head end. Any changes to your analogue lineup requires a visit to site to install or remove a filter on the line.

tomm4004: Any changes to the digital channels can be done from the head end. Any changes to your analogue lineup requires a visit to site to install or remove a filter on the line.So the filter had to be removed from my line even though I was getting MeTV on digital? Also, the fact that digital subscribers are still getting TGC on 410 - does this have anything to do with the filter? Meaning that Rogers can't take TGC away without visiting everyone's house? (on analog they just replaced the channel 52/53 with another signal) As you can probably tell, I have no idea how this works.

For what it's worth, TGC is now on Ch. 71 analog here in Ottawa for some reason.

So the filter had to be removed from my line even though I was getting MeTV on digital? Also, the fact that digital subscribers are still getting TGC on 410 - does this have anything to do with the filter? Meaning that Rogers can't take TGC away without visiting everyone's house? (on analog they just replaced the channel 52/53 with another signal) As you can probably tell, I have no idea how this works.With Digital Rogers has a computer saying something like this: tomm4004 get channels 2-75,201-223, 334, etc. They can specify exactly what channels that you get.

With analog there is no way of controlling who gets what channel. Everyone on the network gets everything. The only way to block certain channels is to put in a filter outside your house, or to scramble the channel (remember that?) and require a descrambler to receive then channel.

For what it's worth, TGC is now on Ch. 71 analog here in Ottawa for some reason.

Curious, 71 for Ottawa is "Your World This Week (Promotional TV)", yet in my area that is Channel 1, which none on my analogue tvs will pick up. (Is channel 1 even valid?)

I really miss TGC. :(

Curious, 71 for Ottawa is "Your World This Week (Promotional TV)", yet in my area that is Channel 1, which none on my analogue tvs will pick up. (Is channel 1 even valid?)

I really miss TGC. :(

Then get digital.

Ch.1 is a digital-only channel. It's a possible channel in analog, but causes more problems than it's worth.

71 in Ottawa is a rare analog-only assignment, which was YWTW until today.

Then get digital.Digital terminals are approximately free after all... ($99 less $5/month programming credit for 20 months)

The Golf Channel was an essential inducement.....Stand up for yoursel, I know I will.
seriously, just write to them, maybe they will waive the charge for a monthly stb rental for you for what its worth.. I would if I were Mr. Rogers for reasons I dont want to mention.

Just found this forum today.
I guess i've been in the dark about the move of the TGC as I never saw the insert or the streamer on TGC. Don't know how I could have missed the latter.

It's the only channel I watch, especially when I work from home. It fills an 8 inch window in the top right corner of my 21inch LCD monitor.
Needless to say today was quite a shocker.

There is no way in hell this is an improvement. When move a channel (any channel) from a package I already have and then charge me for it that's robbery. This is nothing more than a move to push you to Digital.

I phoned Rogers and they made the move to Digital FREE for year. I get the box free, and the TGC free for a year.

But wait I have 3 TV's in the house plus my computer, so I do I get the TGC on them. Oh, I need to rent a box for each TV. WTF? At 3.99 a box / mth plus 2.49 a month for TGC this free improvement will cost me 173.88 to keep the convinience I have now.

Some improvement.
1

Don't forget about the monthly digital access fee. Now that the boxes are becoming almost throw away items to produce. Rogers and other cable providers have to find some way of continuing a steady income stream.

Expensive move for Golf Channel

digital box (purchase or rental charge) + (2.49/mnth T.G.C. subscription) +
monthly digital access fee)

Any time a channel is moved from analogue to digital, it's going to be "painful" for those affected, if they only have analogue.

However, this is going to be the norm soon as eventually, there will be no analogue cable (it may take a few years, but it will come).

Rogers is taking away some of the pain of the digital move:

- One Free STB with many packages
- Free digital for months
- STBs that you can purchase for next to nothing
- Etc.

you also have to understand the politics involved with the move of golf from analog to digital.. They dont just sit arround in a boardroom and think,. oh lets remove golf channel to digital only.. There is probaly 1000 reasons why they had to do it.. equiptment restrictions, progrmming issues, deadlines to meet. etc. now, maybe because of this move, rogers can go ahead and push newer digital content sooner to us.. you never though about that, didnt you?

Ok, TGC is my most watched channel so I was stunned to find some lame MTV show on 53 (east ont) last night. Kept checking and it was the same crap, surfed around other channels - no TGC. Checked TV guide - still shows 53 as TGC. :confused:

Finally come here to the ultimate source of info and get the full story. What a bummer. :(

Here is my dilema/question. I already have Rogers HD PVR on one tv so the move to digital is fine for that tv, problem is I have 6 TVs. I've read posts of economical ways to add STBs. The Rogers site is of limited help in terms of offers to existing digital customers. Can someone describe what options I have for adding STBs? Can I just buy 1, 2 or 3 more STbs and install them myself? And most imporantly what will this do to my bill?

Thanks for any info & help

FS or BB currently have the SA1840 - 2 for 1 sale for $99. So, you can buy two STBs for $100.

If you are paying for the 6 outlets, then there should be no additional charges, however, if you've done the splits yourself, then you'll probably be dinged for an extra outlet fee beyond 4 if you're on the VIP programme.