Saving on cable and satellite bills

By Lyndi-Colleen Morgan

Cable and satellite customers can expect to save some money on their bills in the future, as the Canadian government is requiring service providers to offer more affordable pricing and packages.

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission is making it compulsory for cable and satellite providers to provide a $25 package and pick-and-pay options for customers.

In March 2015, the CRTC decided, starting in March 2016, Canadian licensed TV service providers will be required to offer basic packages that cost no more than $25 per month. The bundles or services would incorporate local and regional stations, channels related to public interest and educational channels. The option to pay for individual channels or smaller packages must be offered before December 2016.

A report published in 2012 by the CRTC found Canadians who had basic cable packages, without add ons, paid an average of $52 a month. That comes to a little over $620 a year. The new $25 dollar package could bring it down to $300 a year.

Orrie Ecker and his wife Sue recently switched satellite companies to save money. Ecker said that he had been with Shaw Communications for 16 years but it became too expensive.

“We had a basic package with a sports and history channel bundle, which cost us about $100 a month but we didn’t watch everything we were paying for,” said Ecker. “This and the money we could save are the reasons we decided to switch to Execulink.”

He said when switching to Execulink they were able to bundle their phone, internet and cable into a package which costs them about $100 per month. They were previously paying this amount for just satellite with the added cost of phone and internet. Altogether the total came to almost double what he pays now at around $2,400 per year.

“I don’t get as many channels as I did before, but I do save about $1,000 a year,” said Ecker.

Ecker said he thought the more affordable packages that are being offered are a great idea and can help those who need to save money. He also said in the future he might consider looking at this option but he is happy with the package he has now.

Kris, who asked his last name not be used, has been with several satellite providers over the last few years including Bell, Cogeco and Shaw Communications but recently switched to a different option.

“We switched over to the free option about a year ago,” said Kris. “We switched because our bills were getting out of control, it was just too much for just TV.”

He said they were paying $180 per month for satellite and about $2,200 a year before purchasing the Android TV Box which provides customers with a library of shows to choose from. He said the box he purchased cost a one time fee of $85 with the streaming channels already loaded.

Kris said even with the cheaper packages that are going to be offered in the future, he would not switch back to “paid” TV.

“Now that we have access to a variety of shows and the Android Box, it would not make sense to add this back to our budget,” said Kris.

Jason Laszlo, a member of the media relations team at Bell, said Bell cannot comment on the decisions of the CRTC and the Canadian government. He said the packages offered by Bell meet the current requirements and new standards developed by the CRTC. Laszlo also said Bell customers have always had the ability to build and customize packages to fit their needs.

For more information about the packages and pick and pay options visit news.gc.ca.