$25/mo Cable TV Subscriptions Now Available To Canadians, But Some Companies Want To Pretend They Don’t Exist

Last March, Canada’s CRTC laid out its plans to force the hands of TV subscription providers to offer a basic $25/mo package to consumers. The idea, in theory, is that these packages will include all of the necessities, and can then be expanded through affordable à la carte options. From a consumer standpoint, this is all good news, but some companies don’t agree.

CBC reports that Bell had engaged in a preemptive strike in advance of the March 1 deadline: it reached out to its sales team to encourage downplaying its new $25/mo “Starter” package, asking them to not mention or talk about it unless it’s brought up. Further, it’s been said that the package has been made deliberately unattractive, and whether that’s true or not, it is unattractive.

There are a couple of big problems with Bell’s offering, and it starts with the channels offered in the stock package. Here’s what’s available in Bell’s Starter service in Ontario:

Bell’s $25 “Starter” Package (Ontario)

Of these 26 channels, none are dedicated to news or sports, and a good chunk of them are French. While some bi-lingual channel-surfers are going to take advantage of both languages, most will choose one or the other. There are also no popular American channels, which many people are going to want. This ultimately means that this $25 package is going to offer a very small value to most consumers. An extension of this problem is that the à la carte options could end up making the package even more expensive than the fuller-featured packages Bell offers.

It’s worth noting that these packages don’t have to include the equipment; Bell charges $15/mo for its set-top box, turning this $25/mo package into a $40/mo one in an instant.

Rogers isn’t that innocent here, either, but its Starter package looks to be the more attractive of the two. A potential problem with Rogers is that customers are told the package includes “up to 88 channels”, when there are only 35 “real” channels; the rest will be made of up radio-to-TV channels and possibly others related to those included (to account for time-zone differences).

Rogers’ $25 “Starter” Package (Ontario)

Rogers did seem to do its homework to make its package a little more attractive, though. It also charges a monthly fee for a set-top box, but it’s $2 cheaper, and its channel selection includes a number of popular American channels, including CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, and PBS.

If we didn’t have a basis for comparison, Bell could have led some to believe that the CRTC required that these packages offer only Canadian programming, but that’s not at all the case. Bell has instead opted to pursue the quest of luring customers to higher-end packages.

According to the official press release, the CRTC is fine with companies that want to offer only Canadian programming, but that packages “may” also include AM and FM radio stations as well as the five American stations mentioned above.

With all that the CRTC details in its press release, it’s clear that Bell isn’t doing anything wrong – even the equipment rental not being counted in the $25/mo fee is a-OK. Success of these basic packages will ultimately boil down to which one offers the best value. If both Bell and Rogers are offered in the same town, then it seems Rogers could take a good bite out of Bell’s potential business. Bell could either return fire by offering a better package, or just suck it up and hope people opt for its more expensive packages.

In many communities, options other than Bell or Rogers are offered, so it’s well worth taking the time to explore your options. If you’re not sure about all of the options available to you, you’ll be happy to know that the CRTC has just released a new tool to help you get down to the bottom of that.