Joel Timmerman subscribes to Rogers Cable at home in London, Ont.DAVE CHIDLEY FOR THE GLOBE AND MAIL
He loves TSN. She loves TLC, also known as The Learning Channel. Beyond that, Joel Timmerman and his wife will occasionally watch shows on about 20 channels – tops – through their Rogers cable service.
How many do they pay for? "A bazillion," said Mr. Timmerman, who has to subscribe to a cable package that costs $68 per month to get his family's favourite channels.
So when he read in the newspaper that Rogers Communications Inc. would be testing a "pick-and-pay" cable service in his city of London, Ont., he was keen to sign up - and to save money. It wasn't so easy.
"I actually spent a significant amount of time on the Rogers website trying to find information [and]looking under TV promotions, packages and pricing. As far as I can tell, it's not anywhere on their website," he said.
He's not the only customer who has found scant information about the five-month trial. Since Rogers announced it at the beginning of November, the company has done little marketing for the pick-and-pay service in London. Some industry watchers and consumers believe that's no accident - that the country's largest cable company is more interested in making a point to Ottawa than in seeing the experiment succeed.
The London trial is at the heart of a brewing battle that pits the federal broadcast regulator against powerful television distributors such as Rogers, Shaw Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. At issue is how much flexibility consumers should have in choosing what television programming they buy.
In September, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission said that it had received complaints from consumers about being forced to pay for too many channels they do not watch, and that it expects cable and satellite companies to change that. The CRTC ordered all TV providers to report back by April on what actions they have taken to give subscribers more choice.
But cable and satellite executives have told the CRTC in hearings that there is no consumer demand for cheaper, "skinny basic" packages that offer fewer channels at lower cost than today's basic TV packages. And some think that Rogers will use the London example to tell the CRTC that there isn't much demand for the product.
"It's a bit ridiculous that they're running a pilot project they're going to cancel, and then not giving any information about it," Mr. Timmerman said.
However the cable companies say they're all for promoting choice. "So far, we have had some positive feedback on the program from customers who learn about it in stores in the London area," Carly Suppa, a Rogers spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement. "Direct mail pieces will be going out to households in the London area beginning Nov. 30, which outline all the channels customers can select. We have also been conducting a door-to-door campaign to share information about the offering. All the feedback we receive on the program is valuable, including feedback on marketing."
Maria Calleja, a teacher and Rogers TV, phone and Internet customer also living in London, said she would definitely sign up for a scaled-down TV service if given the choice. "We have the cheapest [package] which is too much for us," she said.
The trial package, which began on Nov. 8 and runs through the end of March, charges $20 for a small basic cable package, and an extra $26 and up for an à la carte option that allows subscribers to choose their own bundles of 15, 20 or 30 additional channels.
"I haven't heard of it – and I just had a Rogers guy come to my house to fix something," Ms. Calleja said.
Mr. Timmerman said he considered calling customer service to sign up for the slimmed-down service, but that it wasn't worth the "long wait times" and general inconvenience, for a service that would be cancelled again in just a few months. "I would definitely pursue it [otherwise]" he said.
Cable and satellite companies say they depend on the current model of tiered packages for better profit margins. There is also pressure from the companies that own specialty cable channels – and depend on wide distribution for subscriber revenues that keep them afloat.
"There is a real tension between the interests of the cable and satellite companies in selling packages, and the interest of some consumers who would like a skinny package that would leave aside the channels they don't watch," said Peter Grant, a regulatory lawyer with McCarthy Tétrault LLP.
Some customers in London have sought out the trial service, though it has not been easy. Jim, a retiree and a Rogers cable and home phone customer, still has not received information from Rogers or seen any ads. He called the company anyway. (Because a family member works at Rogers, he asked that his last name not be used.)
He was forwarded to a "special department" where a customer service rep told him the pricing, but did not have a list of channels to select from. When she found the list, she said she could not e-mail it to him but offered to read it over the phone. He then went to a Rogers Plus store, where he received a photocopied sheet with the channel selection. The staffer at the store helped him sign up and choose his channels - though not before he was told he would need to upgrade his phone service in order to receive the pick-and-pay deal.
Three more customer service calls later, he has the channels he chose.
"I've got both movie networks now, where before I only had one. It really is a good plan. It's too bad they aren't promoting it," he said. "The CRTC needs to understand, if they want people to have choice, they actually have to market it."