AlphaBeatic Interview with VMedia

Peter Nowak's AlphaBeatic blog (one of my favourites) has a great interview with George Burger of VMedia - one of the new TV providers that is trying its best to give customers what they really want.

The interview is online at VMedia: the template for the CRTC’s new TV universe and includes quotes like the following that illustrate why the CRTC sometimes has to step in and protect us from the large vertically integrated companies that control cable & satellite, TV stations, Internet access, wireless service, radio stations, newspapers, and magazines in this country:

In Canada, close to 90 per cent of the channels are concentrated in the hands of four companies. 

They happen to have a gigantic interest in controlling those channels to drive their larger business. They don’t wake up in the morning thinking, ‘I don’t have VMedia as a customer yet, I want to get VMedia as a customer.’ They wake up in the morning and think, ‘I wish VMedia wasn’t around, because then their customers would be my customers.’

If you still aren't convinced that vertical integration is a problem in Canada, read this article from the Globe and Mail: Bell head meddled in news coverage.

Pick-and-Pay With Cheaper Basic TV Is Coming... Next Year

Last Thursday the CRTC released its much anticipated ruling on the bundling of TV channels and minimum subscription pricing. During the "Let's Talk TV" hearings last fall they heard from all of the stakeholders: ordinary citizens, content producers (TV channels, production studios), broadcast distributors (cable and satellite companies), Internet companies, streaming video companies, the cultural community, and special-interest groups.

Most of those who appeared before the commission were in favour of changes to the status quo, but as you can imagine there were a lot of conflicting opinions on what those changes should be. Read on to see how Thursday's announcement will impact your cable or satellite bill over the next few years.

CRTC "Talk TV" Decision #2 - Good For Cord Cutters?

Last Thursday the CRTC announced more changes as a result of the "Talk TV" hearings held last fall. This time around they addressed Canadian content rules, streaming services, and specialty channels. The full CRTC policy paper is available online as is the text of chairman Blais' speech to the Canadian Club of Ottawa in which he covered some of the highlights.

Last week's ruling was important to cord cutters mainly because it clarified how Canadian streaming services fit into the regulatory regime. Read on for details.

Over-The-Air is here to stay... for now.

The first set of CRTC rulings from the "Let's Talk TV" hearings held in Gatineau QC last September were announced on Thursday, and the consumer comes out the winner in all of them. For cord cutters, the most significant ruling was that local TV stations are not allowed to shut down their over-the-air transmitters without significant consequences.

CBC coverage of upcoming CRTC "Let's Talk TV" hearings

CBC radio in Calgary has been covering some of the topics that will be up for discussion when the CRTC's "Let's Talk TV" hearings begin in Gatineau QC on Monday September 8th.

CBC business reporter Tracy Johnson tried to get input from as many of the stakeholders as possible: the CRTC, artists, content producers, television channel operators, television distributors, and of course, consumers.

Tracy interviewed me via a Google Hangouts call back on August 20th, just a day before the CRTC released its "working document for discussion" intended to serve as a reference point in the hearings. As a cord cutter I realize that I'm not a typical TV consumer, but hopefully the points I made about ever increasing costs and lack of choice ring true.

The radio sessions are available on the CBC web site at the following URLs:

• CRTC hearings into cable and satellite TV
• The future of Canadian specialty channels

A print article on the topic of pick-and-pay was published on the CBC web site on September 2nd and an article about speciality channels on the 4th:

• Pick-and-pay cable TV would offer greater choice, CRTC boss says
• Specialty TV channels risk failing with CRTC changes

If you want to add your voice to the discussion, you have until September 19th to submit comments via the CRTC web site. Visit the page "Help Shape the Future of TV in Canada", register with the CRTC if you haven't already, then select one of the three categories and enter your thoughts.

"Quelle surprise" - NHL GameCenter LIVE is more expensive under Rogers

One of the interesting things about the $5.2B deal that Rogers signed with the NHL last November is that it included "all of its platforms in all languages."  Cord cutters like yours truly have been waiting to see what the impact would be on the NHL's GameCenter LIVE streaming package, fearing the worst given that a cable company like Rogers would prefer to keep as many people on expensive cable subscriptions as possible. Read on to see the 2014-2015 pricing from Rogers.

T-Mobile's free 200MB/month

I was in the US for the first time since T-Mobile announced their "Free Data for Life" offer for owners of 3G/4G-enabled tablets and laptops in the US, so I was anxious to check it out.

For those who haven't heard of it, if you buy a T-Mobile pre-paid SIM card, you can activate it for free and use 200MB of data per month without ever having to pay a cent or even provide T-Mobile with a credit card. Sometimes you can even get the SIM card for free, so it costs you nothing at all! It's their teaser to get you hooked on having a connected tablet, which they hope will lead you to either buy a monthly plan or purchase a bigger block of data for pre-paid use.

Read on to see how it worked and find out about the minor snags I ran into along the way.