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[Silver Arrows]

http://news.nationalpost.com/sports/bell-and-rogers-offer-sports-bars-unpleasant-choice-give-us-more-money-or-lose-tsn-and-sportsnet

Bell and Rogers, the twin conglomerates of the sports-media landscape in this country, have decided to remove their main sports channels from the bundled packages available to businesses that have a liquor licence. They will then offer TSN and Sportsnet — and their various regional feeds — as standalone packages at significantly increased fees.

So, where they previously had those channels available at a cost not unlike a typical residential subscription, now bars and restaurants will have to pay specifically for the right to have TSN and Sportsnet in their lineups.

Smaller bars — less than 100 seats — will be charged about $120 monthly for both channels on top of existing fees, and the cost increases according to seating capacity. The new prices — not that anyone was keen to put them on the record — will also apply to customers who subscribe to those channels through a third party like Shaw or Telus. Shaw confirmed Tuesday that the new prices are set by the channel owners, regardless of service provider.

It cannot be a coincidence that Bell and Rogers, generally fierce competitors, are making this change at the same time. You might call it collusion, but at the very least there are cahoots involved.

With the decline in television viewership — late last year the CRTC reported Canadians spent more on Internet packages than television subscriptions for the first time — and with broadcasters now forced to offer some kind of a-la-carte pricing for their channels, it is not surprising that the major sports broadcasters would look to bars who are showing their product to an audience of dozens, or even hundreds, as a way of capturing some of that leaking revenue back.

Fuck Rogers and Bell, and fuck the CRTC and the Canadian government for being too chickenshit to break up this disgusting monopoly that this two headed monster has on Canadian telecoms.

 

[McDougles]

You could almost say that two competitors working together to force bars to pay more at the exact same time is collusion.

Almost.

 

[flkraven]

So they are basically using the pay per view model already in place for bars (for boxing, ufc, etc), but applying it to TSN? Fucking lol.

 

[Silver Arrows]

You could almost say that two competitors working together to force bars to pay more at the exact same time is collusion.

Almost.

The article specifically mentions that if it isn't collusion, then at best it is being in cahoots.

Will we hear a word of this from the CRTC? LOL

 

[B-Dubs]

How is this not illegal? They're clearly working together on this.

 

[crimzonflame]

So many people I know switched to IPTV. I wonder if Rogers/Bell are starting to feel the burn of that yet.

 

[Onemic]

Rogers and Bell can go fuck themselves

 

[Dazzler]

fuck everything to do with these two companies

 

[Entropia]

You would think that if one of them was doing this, the other would jump on the fact that they're not doing it.

Doing it at the same time? Yeah that's not shady or anything, /sarcasm

 

[Ryuuga]

When it comes to service providers in Canada "Pick your poison" is used in a literal sense.

 

[mnannola]

No sport for you!

 

[KernelPanic]

All those cord cutters hurting their bottom line so they are milking sports bars now to compensate.

 

[Silver Arrows]

How is this not illegal? They're clearly working together on this.

It's funny, the big Canadian telecom companies will bitch on the airwaves about the big American companies trying to turf in on their territory, play up the inferiority complex Canadians have to American companies and businesses, yet they turn around and pull shit like this.

It is delicious hypocrisy.

 

[Syf]

CRTC stays losing

 

[DopeyFish]

canadian government needs to break up these companies

 

[Savitar]

We so badly need true competition in Canada it hurts.

 

[avaya]

American's reading this thread, this is your future. ATT/TWX + Verizon/CMCSA + Charter/TMUS/Sprint.

 

[Hickbilly Deluxe]

And shit like this is why I'm happy my preferred bar bootlegs their cable from an upstairs apartment.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

How is this not illegal? They're clearly working together on this.

Yeah? Prove it.

 

[Silver Arrows]

We so badly need true competition in Canada it hurts.

It's funny that I was actually hoping for Verizon to come into Canada when the telecom companies began to run ads on how they wanted to 'keep telecoms Canadian' or some other dumb, nationalistic horseshit like that.

Knowing the big two however, they'd probably let Verizon in on the fun and gangbang Canadian consumers even more.

 

[FrankCanada97]

I'm going to throw a crazy idea out there:

The government should nationalize the telecom companies.

 

[Silver Arrows]

I'm going to throw a crazy idea out there:

The government should nationalize the telecom companies.

CRTC is a toothless organization, and they are essentially beholden to Bell and Rogers. Won't happen in a million years, not without Bell and Rogers kicking and screaming.

 

[DopeyFish]

I'm going to throw a crazy idea out there:

The government should nationalize the telecom companies.

Also a good idea

Nationalize telecommunications infrastructure, liberalize content.

 

[Mikey Jr.]

Yeah, I'm with Rogers. We rent cable boxes from them for 8 bucks a month per box. About 4 of them. They recently jacked the prices up to 12 a month.
They are scared because tv viewership is going down. After the hike, we cut 2 of the boxes out, and changed our tv plan to nearly the basic version.

Suck it ass holes.

 

[Silver Arrows]

Maybe if we take out the CRTC we might get rid of that asinine Canadian content rule, considering 99.9% of what Canadians consume is American.

 

[krae_man]

The already insane price leagues want for rights fees is just going to get worse when they catch wind of this.

 

[thelatestmodel]

Yeah? Prove it.

Someone out there probably can. They are obviously colluding on this and other markets. The CRTC does not do its job.

 

[djkimothy]

Why am i not surprised?

 

[CaviarMeths]

I'm going to throw a crazy idea out there:

The government should nationalize the telecom companies.

Maybe not cable.

But it would be be nice to see internet and phone service be declared a human right and provided to all citizens by the government. I'd be happy to pay for that with my taxes.

 

[Maximus.]

How is this not illegal? They're clearly working together on this.

Because the CRTC exists, as to make it look like the government cares.

 

[PROh1bited]

Absolutely disgusting

 

[corn_fest]

Shitty, but I mean $120 or so is practically nothing when operating a bar. No one's going out of business over it.

 

[UberTag]

Rogers and Bell can go fuck themselves

If these companies weren't so brazenly reprehensible, I might have decided to not cut myself away from the claws of cable a few years ago to never look back.
But they just couldn't help themselves.

Unfortunately for sports bars, I'm fairly certain they're going to have to play ball here.

 

[Fisty]

Thousands of miles away, a Comcast CEO's ears perk up and his palms begin to sweat

 

[Silver Arrows]

Because the CRTC exists, as to make it look like the government cares.

Believe me, the government doesn't give a shit. They only go after the low hanging fruit and sometimes make announcements to remind people they are doing something.

Meanwhile, telecom companies continue to fuck the consumer over, and the archaic and asinine Canadian content regulations make radio and TV the same 8 shows and songs.

 

[Cranster]

Maybe if we take out the CRTC we might get rid of that asinine Canadian content rule, considering 99.9% of what Canadians consume is American.

That would a shit decision as that rule helped many Canadian artists and productions gain a national audience.

 

[Mesoian]

This is how Salty Bet takes over Canada.

 

[SoRuffShoNuff]

Bars are charged much more for PPVs than a residential dwelling. I see no issue with this.

 

[Kuro Madoushi]

The article specifically mentions that if it isn't collusion, then at best it is being in cahoots.

Will we hear a word of this from the CRTC? LOL

Only after it's filled with more Robelus shills to tell us nothing is wrong. 🙃

 

[pr0cs]

Maybe if we take out the CRTC we might get rid of that asinine Canadian content rule, considering 99.9% of what Canadians consume is American.

Totally agree. Most Canadian content is pure shit.
Thanks Trudeau

 

[excelsiorlef]

Almost like content providers owning most of the content creators is a really bad thing or something...

Maybe if we take out the CRTC we might get rid of that asinine Canadian content rule, considering 99.9% of what Canadians consume is American.

That said getting rid of Can Con is also not a great idea

Can Con allows Canadian artists to you know live and work in Canada...

Complete American cultural domination isn't good either

 

[Barrage]

Collusion. Fucking disgusting. This and their purposeful neutering of Crave/Shomi show just how exploited Canadians are by the status quo.

That being said, there are much bigger issues in Canadian arts and entertainment than CanCon.

 

[Mechanized]

Countdown to bars using some kinda Kodi streaming setup in 3,2,1...

 

[firehawk12]

I still find it weird that Bell and Rogers are basically co-owners of MLSE. But I suppose this "collusion" to increase sports channel fees makes sense in that context.

 

[Puppet Shadow]

I don't see an issue with this. $120 a month to provide entertainment for your customers? Besides, bars can write off the expense.

 

[KernelPanic]

Complete American cultural domination isn't good either

Yes we really need a Canadian division of Fox News up here.

 

[gutter_trash]

Canadian Telecoms are the worst in universe

 

[capitalCORN]

Yes we really need a Canadian division of Fox News up here.

Remember SunTV? It bombed hilariously!

 

[kitschykitty]

I'm personally absolutely shocked that the CRTC hasn't stepped in to stop Rogers, and Bell.

Spoiler

ok not that shocked

 

[firehawk12]

I know people are shitting on the CRTC, but they're the reason your internet bill just went down recently you know. lol