Satellite TV subscribers in Flin Flon may now choose an entry-level package, but that’s not an option for cable viewers.
Canada’s broadcast regulator, the CRTC, gave television providers until Tuesday to offer customers a low-cost package of basic channels with the option of adding individual channels of their choosing.
Shaw Communications and Bell confirm that satellite customers in the Flin Flon area now have this option.
Cable subscribers do not have that choice. Shaw, Flin Flon’s lone cable provider, says the community is exempt from the CRTC order because it is part of a cable system with fewer than 20,000 subscribers.
The exemption reflects “the financial, administrative and technical limitations of providing a full range of services in certain areas,” Shaw spokesman Chethan Lakshman said.
Lakshman said Winnipeg and surrounding area is Shaw’s only Manitoba cable market required to have access to the new options.
Last year, the CRTC ruled that cable and satellite TV providers would have to offer basic (or “skinny”) packages to customers for no more than $25 a month.
The CRTC did not limit how much money companies could charge for individual channels on top of the basic package. Bell, for example, will charge satellite customers either $4 or $7 per extra channel, depending on the channel.
The CRTC ruling generated plenty of media attention, but few sources mentioned that cable systems in smaller communities such as Flin Flon would be exempt.
The CRTC argued that the move was necessary to ensure fairness for Canadian viewers. Lakshman had no comment when asked whether Shaw had concerns about the ruling.
Shaw and Bell packages that existed prior to the CRTC ruling remain available to subscribers.
The question of how much demand exists for basic packages has generated much discussion among industry observers.
