Canadians can afford rise in TV fees: CRTC

[Logitack]

Not surprisingly, the CRTC is going to allow cable providers and broadcasters to negotiate a fee to carry over the air signals. Of course that fee will be passed on to the subscriber.

And while broadcasters will get compensated for their signal, and cable companies wont have to pay for this compensation, from their profits, the subscriber will not have a choice on whether they want to receive the broadcaster's signal. sounds fair!

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2010/03 ... gnals.html
The report emerged a day after the regulator — pending federal court approval — gave the green light to value-for-signal negotiations between private broadcasters and the cable and satellite TV providers (also known as broadcasting distribution undertakings, or BDUs).

The CRTC said the overriding themes from the approximately 200,000 public comments it received last fall were that Canadians are concerned about the future of local TV programming and do not want to pay more for TV.

"It does not appear, however, that significant affordability issues would be created by a [fee-for-signal] regime that resulted in modest price increases," the commission said.

"While the commission recognizes that low-income households would feel the impact of an increase in the price of basic television services to a greater extent, the reality is that, for most Canadians, the price of such services would still remain low relative to overall personal disposable income.

"This suggests that many Canadians may be opposed to an increase in the price of basic television services but are still able to afford it."

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2010/03 ... z0j1y68QwK

[Nebula]

Sucks. If I had the ability to choose, I would subscribe to perhaps eight to 10 channels in total. I estimate 75% of our TV usage is confined to about 4-5 channels, but I have to pay for, what, 50 in order to get the channels we like. Sucks.

[Logitack]

I cant wait to watch BCTV, CTVbc and chbc as they spend more money to improve "local tv" now that they have a new revenue source! </sarcasm off>

[grammafreddy]

Does this mean my cable bill will go up?

Or is it for satellite TV?

[Logitack]

your shaw cable bill will be going up to help private broadcasters improve their profit margin. ok, they claim the money is needed to improve local coverage...LOL

[Woodenhead]

Sucks. If I had the ability to choose, I would subscribe to perhaps eight to 10 channels in total. I estimate 75% of our TV usage is confined to about 4-5 channels, but I have to pay for, what, 50 in order to get the channels we like. Sucks.

Exactly. Damn, I hate this kind of thing. We should be able to pick & choose, on a per-channel basis, full stop.

(that said, I can't complain much currently, as I get free satellite - If I could choose like I say above, I'd gladly go back to paying.)

[Urbane]

Sucks. If I had the ability to choose, I would subscribe to perhaps eight to 10 channels in total. I estimate 75% of our TV usage is confined to about 4-5 channels, but I have to pay for, what, 50 in order to get the channels we like. Sucks.

My thoughts exactly. I've read that our cable bills will eventually be going up by about $10 a month but if we could select the channels we want, individually rather than in bundles, we would save a lot of money. This definitely sucks.

[Nebula]

Urbane, agreed. To add, for the most part, the channels I would select do not include local stations.

[grammafreddy]

$10 a month makes the difference of me keeping my cable TV or not. I only watch three shows and I can now get them on the Internet, so there's no way I will pay extra for that.

I, too, wish I could just get the two channels I watch.

[BVulgaris]

as long as my cable internet bill doesnt go up.... if it does im going back to.... oh yeah.. darn 56k modems!

i've heard some of what this means for the future of public broadcast and some of what CBC had to say on the topic...

we've come a long way from the theology of the aerial tv era.

[Woodenhead]

More info:

http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4901/125/