The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition a proposal by the country's broadcast regulator to allow customers to pick and choose their own programming has drawn a wave of complaints from broadcast providers, as well as their subscribers. The Post's Gordon Isfeld writes for BCE, Rogers and Shaw there are concerns over how unbundling and piecemeal add-ons will affect their bottom lines. Many consumers have questioned whether so-called "pick-and-pay" schemes will actually save them money in the long run.
The CRTC on Thursday at 4 p.m. ET will rule whether to impose pick-and-pay guidelines on cable and satellite companies.
Desjardins analyst Maher Yaghi figures unbundling could lose the cable companies $5 to $10 in monthly revenue per user. "We expect many specialty channels will become unprofitable in an unbundled world," Mr. Yaghi said in a research note.
The C.D. Howe Institute, in a study in September, warned that "attempting to regulate pick-and-pay or product offerings would launch the CRTC on a more interventionist role in the entire content and video distribution business."
The CRTC, the Toronto think tank said, would almost certainly have to supervise the prices for unbundled products.
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