Unbundling TV channel packages will cost you more: watchdog
Posted October 17, 2013 8:14 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It only got two lines in yesterday’s Throne Speech, but a proposal to unbundle TV channel packages is raising concerns for a watchdog group.
The FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting is weighing in on Ottawa’s proposed “pick and pay” or a la carte pricing scheme.
While the group favours more consumer choice, it feels the proposal is meaningless if it doesn’t include caps on how much the cable companies can charge per channel.
“There is no rate regulation anymore. There could be — it’s allowed by law — but in the last decade, the big companies, like Shaw, can charge what they like for the channels,” explains Ian Morrison with FRIENDS.
“Our prediction is that people will get fewer channels and will pay more money [for them].”
The group also finds the timing of the Conservative push to allow Canadians the ability to “choose the combination of television channels they want” curious.
“This government is now in the second half of its eighth year and we’ve seen the cost of cable television to the average Canadian almost doubling,” adds Morrison.
“So, we find the government coming along all of a sudden saying this smacks of opportunistic oversimplification.”
