Aliant TV 2012 programming packages and pricing discussion

[Dr.Dave]

The purpose of this thread is to discuss packages and pricing for Aliant TV for 2012.

[maritimer555]

i was just reading an article on the cable industry and came across the paragraph below. Can someone explain what liveevent is and why it might be PVR resistant? i wasn't sure what thread i should post this question- hopefully this is OK here.

"Sports content rights are also soaring, as advertisers flock to liveevent television, which is resistant to PVR recording and is rarely found via online streaming sources. It means Bell's TSN service and Rogers's Sportsnet properties can command significantly higher rates relative to other channels featuring scripted programming, which will stoke rates providers must pay the two higher still."

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/Cable...#ixzz1rAbjvpMU

[freddybeach]

Typo. liveevent = live event.

They are referring to the tendency of people who watch sports events to watch them live and not record them. Which, I have to say, is true in my case.

This tendency leads advertisers to focus on these events because they will get a larger audience for the advertisements (which do not get skipped over).

This is my take on it anyway...

[habskilla]

Plus, live event content is not normally uploaded to the internet (minus the stripped out commercials) for later download by the masses. There are exceptions like UFC events, but last night's live event hockey game between Detroit and St. Louis was:
A. Watched live by the audience. Not PVR'd. Commercials were then not skipped over.
B. Not uploaded (minus the stripped out commercials) to the internet for downloading today.

I guess that is a combination advertisers are willing to pay a premium for.

[maritimer555]

thanks guys- it makes sense now.

I have been fighting a cold and should have figured it out on my own.

And because i am fighting a cold i didn't stay up to the watch the NCAA ball game Mon night , Pvr'ed it instead and watched it Tuesday afternoon. and I did ff thru all the ads. I guess that's rare.

[freddybeach]

Originally Posted by maritimer555

thanks guys- it makes sense now.

I have been fighting a cold and should have figured it out on my own.

And because i am fighting a cold i didn't stay up to the watch the NCAA ball game Mon night , Pvr'ed it instead and watched it Tuesday afternoon. and I did ff thru all the ads. I guess that's rare.

I knew I would be home late and not catch the start of the last Superbowl, so I recorded it and FF'd through everything (half time show included) until I hit live...

But that's the only time I've really done it.

[frenchhomer]

As some other folks are aware in Atlantic Canada the rates for home phone and internet have steadily gone up over the last few years. I wrote to them to ask why new customers get a great deal when signing up to there service where folks like me who have been with them since 25 years pay almost double. Here was the response I received, thought it was a cute explanation and I'm gonna fight them on this .....

Hello Adrian,
Thank you for contacting Bell Aliant.
We have received your email and appreciate that you have taken the time to write to us. The $54.95 price point is a promotional rate for new customers. When the promotional period ends, the rate goes to either $89.95 or $98.95. You pay $98.95 because you are in an area which was deemed a higher cost market high cost serving areas were determined several years ago for all Canadian Telcos. The boundaries were created based on the cost to provide service in each area. Each year (at the directive of the CRTC) we review these rates against the annual rate of inflation. Depending on the national rate, sometimes this results in an increase to our stand alone Local access and sometimes there is no rate change; as was the case in 2010.
If you have any further questions or inquiries feel free to contact us again.
Thank you for choosing Bell Aliant. We appreciate your business.
Have a great day!
Chelsea

p.s the 98.95 is for regular highspeed and home phone.

[NotoriousDRG]

All customers get a promo and at some point you too would have been new to phone and internet bundle or the same with Bell tv added and you would have received the in market promo at the time. The higher cost areas is due to the fact the telcos have to provide phone service access to all areas regardless of how remote. The cable guys dont go there because of the cost and they are not mandated to provide service. The CRTC used to subsize the telcos in the rural areas to help with the cost and they have removed those subsidies I believe 2 years ago.

[habskilla]

Your best bet is play the "I'm cancelling" game. Unfortunately, Aliant doesn't play very well.

Call up and threaten to cancel. Say Rogers is offering $xx.xx for the same services. You got nothing to lose.

[Tridus]

Aliant doesn't play this the same way Rogers does because Aliant's normal offerings are more competitive, so if you try it you had better be prepared to not get offered much.

[file]

Aliant also doesn't have as much lee way as Rogers. Rogers is a much larger company and can afford to take more of a loss against ARPU (average revenue per user). Bell Aliant is sticking strict to their financial plans. You have to remember that the goal of the business is not to cater to your every whim and request, it's to make money. If they can't make money off you in a decent enough time then they won't do it. Take FibreOP... it takes Bell Aliant a bit to make any money off you due to the cost of deploying it and acquiring you as a customer.

[jfoley85]

I currently have Bell Aliant Ultra High speed. Im getting a promotion on it until February 2013 at 29.99. If I switch to Fiber Op 15/15 it will be the same price, more bandwidth but the promotion for 29.99 wil only be good for 3 months as opposed to a year for what I currently have. They are chaging me a ten dollar system access fee now. After the year is up Fiber Op 15/15 will be the same price. Im better off switching after the year is up, correct?

[NotoriousDRG]

You would only get the 3 month promo if you added either phone and or tv in a FibreOP bundle. The policy changed this year. If you upgraded to Fibre internet stand alone and did not add a net new service you would be billed $149 install and the in market rate ie no promo for the fibre stand alone internet. Too expensive to upgrade people that do not add new services.

[aleclerc]

Is anyone else getting the timeshifting channel for free right now? I haven't added them but they've shown up in the last week or so

[NO-CRTC]

I believe they are on freeview until the end of May.