CRTC to allow a-la-carte channel picking

[headcheese]

This whole á-la-carte thing is part of the reason I'm adding FTA satellite to my TV habits.

If you are a soccer fan, there is GolTV located on Echostar 8 (All you need is an unused Bell ExpressVu dish/LNB and an FTA receiver).

If you like old TV (Like "Mission: Impossible"), check out the Retro Television Network on Galaxy 10R. (You'll want a 33" Dish with Linear LNB - not the same type as Bell) G10R also has an ABC and a FOX station.

Do you like Satellite Radio? Echostar 7 has that as well as NASA TV. (Again, Circular feed like Bell ExpressVu).

I can't wait for á-la-carte programming. There are only 5 or 6 specialty channels that I watch. The rest I can get on a pair of Rabbit Ears or off of free satellite.

[I_Want_My_HDTV]

I don't think we will see many BDUs go to à la carte (aka pick'n'pay) because it will be a nightmare to administer. It will drive customer support costs through the roof. The logistics of selecting 10, 20, 30 channels with a CSR will be very time consuming. Some customers will choose the cheapest package and constantly switch to get shows on unsubscribed channels. I can't see it happening unless the process in completely automated somehow, such as through a web site. Seeing as some BDUs can't even get their web sites working properly for current program selection options or even bill payments, it may never happen.

[pedro]

But they have Internet on computers now.

IF (and in terms of cable providers like Rogers, it's a BIG if) the providers allowed consumers to login to their web sites and pick 'n choose their channels from a list of choices, and IF that was done in a simple/intuitive way (and it's not rocket science) it would be an ideal consumer self-serve model - and a serious competitive advantage if the other players didn't provide the same.

[Jake]

Not sure if I follow exactly the last few posts but with Videotron I can already log into my account and select the individual channels and or packages I want. Is this what you are talking about? I just assumed everyone else (Rogers etc) has this.

[I_Want_My_HDTV]

Rogers has had pick'n'pay on a limited number of channels for some time. You can buy 1, 5, 10, 20 channels and choose what you want. The issues arrive when selecting all channels that way. The CRTC has various regulations regarding ratios of US and BDU owned channels to other channels. I believe some BDUs have agreements to package channels in a certain way as well.

Currently, á-la-carte is slightly different since it assumes you add individual channels at a fairly high cost per channel to existing packages. Up to now, this has only been allowed with certain channels. The cost is prohibitive since two or more channels often exceed the cost of a single theme pack.

I believe we should be moving toward the Roger's pick'n'pay model for all channels. That would help weed out the under performers and stop certain broadcasters from violating their license agreements with impunity, as some are doing now. We have many specialty channels that are blanketed with low cost filler that has little or nothing to do with their mandate. Pick'n'pay would let people drop channels that program in this manner.

Many BDUs have web sites that claim to let you select or change programming on line. Some work better than others. One just sends the request to a CSR who makes the changes manually, several day later. Another frequently fails with an error message, usually after you have spent time making selections. There is a lot of of room for improvement.

[Walter Dnes]

I don't think we will see many BDUs go to à la carte (aka pick'n'pay) because it will be a nightmare to administer. It will drive customer support costs through the roof. The logistics of selecting 10, 20, 30 channels with a CSR will be very time consuming.

Thank you for explaining why PPV (Pay-Per-View) doesn't work . But guess what, PPV *DOES* work. You can press a few buttons, and select...
- a specific channel that you want to watch
- the specific time you want to start watching it
- the specific time it stops

The PPV infrastructure is *EXACTLY* what is required to support a-la-carte channel selection. Think of it as PPV where, instead of selecting a movie channel for 90 minutes, you're selecting a regular channel for a whole month. Otherwise, it's identical.

Some customers will choose the cheapest package and constantly switch to get shows on unsubscribed channels.

The answer to that is to make a channel selection a one-month minimum.

Any more questions?

[I_Want_My_HDTV]

PPV works because it is a money maker for BDUs. A-la-carte may be available because it makes money due to the high cost per channel, $3-$5 per month retail for a wholesale cost of $0.50-$1.00. Pick'n'pay will probably not be implemented due to the fact that it will not increase profits and will increase costs. It's not so much a technical issue as a corporate decision due to cash flow.

Add a channel for only a month? Dream on. Some providers just let you add programming with their automated system and you must call to drop anything. The only difference between that and PPV is that PPV programs are automatically terminated at their end. Packages and a-la-carte additions have no termination and likely will not due to corporate policy.

Yes, some BDUs make you wait until the end of the month to drop programming now. That won't stop people from adding and dropping channels. Others make changes right away but that will likely change if they need extra CSRs to handle the demand for pick'n'pay.

[rogerduvernay]

"Add a channel for only a month - Dream on" I WANT MY HDTV-
With Videotron, i Pay for 30 channels, and can change any channel during the month. I presently change 3 to 4 channels in a given month.
The only restriction, is that if you cancel channel XYZ you cannot re-activate that channel in the same month.
All this is done via internet using the "self service" option. Within minutes, the changes are made. You can can also use the "interactive" option on the TV via Illico, however, i never tried.

[starchoice]

Star Choice has just implemented a new pricing policy for Pick 'n' Pay with any two channels for $2.99. Granted this does not apply to all channels such as Showcase or Bravo but only to the newer diginets such as TV Land, Scream, Showcase Diva, etc. This compares to a set of bundled channels for $4.99 in a theme pack. SC is open 24/7/365 and you can drop and add channels at will so if you wanted to trade TV Land for IFC because there was a movie you wanted to see, you could do that. With virtually no hold times, the process can be quicker than logging into any website.

[Walter Dnes]

I_Want_My_HDTV said...

PPV works because it is a money maker for BDUs. A-la-carte may be available because it makes money due to the high cost per channel, $3-$5 per month retail for a wholesale cost of $0.50-$1.00. Pick'n'pay will probably not be implemented due to the fact that it will not increase profits and will increase costs. It's not so much a technical issue as a corporate decision due to cash flow.

Posts by "rogerduvernay" and "starchoice" indicate that this is available right now on Videotron and StarChoice. A-la-carte is effectively a scaled-up PPV. If anything, it BENEFITS from economies of scale. instead of having one purchase transaction per 90 minutes (the length of an average movie), you're looking at one purchase transaction per 43,200 minutes (30 days). That's 1/480th of the transaction overhead.

Not only that, it'll save the BDUs money by freeing up a lot of bandwidth, as a gazillion food-and-cooking-channels and watching-the-paint-dry-channels kick the bucket due to lack of VOLUNTARY viewership. The only reason they make money right now is because of forced bundles, along the same lines as convicted monopolist Microsoft.

[classicsat]

Originally Posted by Walter Dnes

Not only that, it'll save the BDUs money by freeing up a lot of bandwidth, as a gazillion food-and-cooking-channels and watching-the-paint-dry-channels kick the bucket due to lack of VOLUNTARY viewership.

So far though, since the Sept 2001 launch of those channels, few have gone under. Many have sold to larger companies, and got slightly to majorly reworked and rebranded.

[Walter Dnes]

Classicsat said

So far though, since the Sept 2001 launch of those channels, few have gone under.

The reason for that being that they're rammed down cable subscribers' throats, not to mention Ted Rogers and his "Negative Option Billing". Look at the following pay channels that are part of Rogers' "Basic Cable" service in the GTA...

22 Rogers Sportsnet Ontario
23 The Weather Network
24 CablePulse24
25 YTV (East)
26 CBC Newsworld/Voiceprint (SAP)
62 CTV Newsnet
63 Star!
65 Treehouse
69 RDI
71 APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network)

If these pay channels weren't being rammed down cable subscribers' throats, many of them would've bit the dust just like "C Channel" in 1983, 6 months after it launched. And basic cable service would be less expensive. For that matter, just about all tiers of cable.

The CRTC lied through it's teeth back then about never making Pay-TV stations mandatory for cable subscribers. When they saw that Krummy Kanadian Kontent wouldn't attract a paying audience on its own, they eventually reneged on their promise.

[nfitz]

I don't think any of those are Pay stations. They all have commercials, and derive most of their income from commercials. I'm not sure what the reference to KKK is supposed to mean ...

[Walter Dnes]

I don't think any of those are Pay stations. They all have commercials, and derive most of their income from commercials.

Oops, I missed Vision TV on the mandatory pay TV list.

http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/Content/HOC/c.../08-Ch07-e.htm
==========================================
VisionTV received its first licence in 1987. It is now available as part of basic cable or satellite service to than eight million households. The network is funded largely through advertising and subscription revenues and is allowed by the CRTC to collect 8 cents per subscriber each month. In 2001, Vision had revenues of approximately $15 million.
==========================================

Let's see... 8,000,000 x $0.08 x 12 months = $7,680,000. They said MORE THAN eight million households, so lets call it $8,000,000 of their $15,000,000 in revenue was from subscriber fees. That was 6 years ago; expect the monthly rate to have gone up since then.

Digging up the info is more difficult than I had expected. I will be back with documentation for the other stations.

[gmd]

Originally Posted by Walter Dnes

Classicsat said
22 Rogers Sportsnet Ontario
23 The Weather Network
24 CablePulse24
25 YTV (East)
26 CBC Newsworld/Voiceprint (SAP)
62 CTV Newsnet
63 Star!
65 Treehouse
69 RDI
71 APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network)

If these pay channels weren't being rammed down cable subscribers' throats, many of them would've bit the dust just like "C Channel" in 1983, 6 months after it launched.

Let me guess:
23 The Weather Network (who made this one mandatory?)
24 CablePulse24
62 CTV Newsnet
63 Star!

We already pay to keep those alive:
26 CBC Newsworld/Voiceprint (SAP)
69 RDI
71 APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network)

"Must carry" should be: local OTA + US networks.

-gmd