Cord Cutters

[Mayhem]

In another article written by Fagstein, Rogers' Moore admits there will be less Canadiens games on Citytv. Last fall, Toronto on CBC, Montreal on City, and some Canadiens regional games aired tuesdays or thursdays on Citytv. Cordcutters didn't need RDS or TVA Sports to watch the games. Now they do.

No surprise, even a blind person could see that they would move the games to their overpriced channels at some point to recover the money they lost on the bidding war for the rights.

[CDN Viewer]

the big three admitting they want everyone back on a BDU subscription, no exceptions.

If they want everyone on a BDU subscription then why the hell don't they lower their damn prices?!? People are sick and tired of paying for their overpriced services, they want choice and value in the service they subscribe to- its a really simple concept to grasp, not sure why the conglomerates don't care to understand?!

Coming march 1st with the introduction of CRTC-imposed skinny basic, both companies are aware they charge too much for service, but to keep their sports channel afloat, they won't promote skinny basic, hiding it on their respective website, offering it only as last resort to anyone who calls to cut the cord.

They can't hide it and pretend it doesn't exist, I am quite certain that the CRTC not only is forcing them to offer a skinny basic package but they will also have to promote this package so customers know it exists, how much it costs and what it entails. Personally, I think the package is a joke- $25 is too much just for a bunch of locals (its clear whose side the CRTC is on with this so-called 'low cost' basic), this is not going to entice too many cord cutters to return IMO.

[PokerFace]

Perhaps new subscribers will be able to get Skinny Basic (plus perhaps a few extra channels) for only $10-20/month for the first year, through one of the Rogers agent promotions. The HD box would probably be extra, but now that entry-level pricing will be advertised on the company websites for about $25, a sub $25 entry-level price point might be something that will be offered more willingly (it's already available now with some service providers) ... hoping of course that after a few months and a few added channels, that $10-20/month will rise well before the end of the year special deal expires.

Streaming content isn't always as wonderful, reliable and cheap as one would hope, so the cable/satellite companies (especially in Canada) generally still have enough of a stranglehold on the masses.

Times are changing, but Canada is always late to the party.

[InMontreal]

If they want everyone on a BDU subscription then why the hell don't they lower their damn prices?!? People are sick and tired of paying for their overpriced services

Shareholders won't be happy about prices going down.

They can't hide it and pretend it doesn't exist, I am quite certain that the CRTC not only is forcing them to offer a skinny basic package but they will also have to promote this package so customers know it exists, how much it costs and what it entails.

When the analog shutdown happened, the CRTC told broadcasters : Put on a 30-secs spot to inform viewers, for free. Broadcasters complained about a "low 1%" of viewers watching channels over-the-air ain't worth losing those 30-secs spots to paying advertisers, plus, they were going to promote an alternative free way to watch TV, something they wanted to avoid. Quebecor's TVA went a bit further and wanted instead to "mention it" during their morning show (Salut Bonjour).

When economic resession hit conventional broadcaster revenues, they asked for fee-for-carriage, they didn't get it and instead, CRTC decided to increase LPIF instead. In rebellion, BDUs forwarded the whole LPIF tax onto subscribers, making an additional 1% of profits onto TV services.

I don't think BDUs will do what's necessary to advertise the existence of skinny basic that wil lhave the unfortunate result to sabotage their own revenues.

Personally, I think the package is a joke- $25 is too much just for a bunch of locals (its clear whose side the CRTC is on with this so-called 'low cost' basic), this is not going to entice too many cord cutters to return IMO.

The CRTC suggested 25$ as a MAXIMUM. That includes the bunch of locals, American networks are optional, but a bunch of questions are raised : does it includes access to on-demand services such as CTV, Global and City ? Does it includes the community channel ? Does it includes terminal/converter rental, network fees, HD fees ?

They might as well lower the monthly price to 10$ or 15$ a month, but whenever you call customer/technical support, they'll charge you just for the call. A 10$ monthly bill is better than nothing, but BDUs don't see it that way.

[CDN Viewer]

Shareholders won't be happy about prices going down.

Will shareholders be happy when they lose huge chunks of their customer base, because that is exactly the direction things are headed- the more they increase their prices, the more people will cancel their service and seek out alternatives. Greed has taken over rational thought IMO, they have become so blinded that they think people will just keeping paying through the nose forever, especially now other alternatives exist like online streaming services, DVD releases of TV series and OTA (while it lasts)?!

All these damn conglomerates are publicly traded companies- that is the problem with the entire system and what prevents REAL change from happening. If they were privately owned companies things would be different as privately owned corporations are more responsive to their customers because if the customer base is not happy their businesses will eventually suffer for it. These publicly traded monsters don't care about anything except making as much money as they can for their masters (i.e. shareholders). Of course it also helps that their is no real competition in the pay TV business, they have a nice little oligopoly like the oil producers- Corruption at its finest!

The CRTC suggested 25$ as a MAXIMUM.

I know that but do you really think any of the Big BDU's are going to charge anything less then $25 for this package which they don't even want to offer?! What they should do is price it at $18.99 or $19.99 and then increase the price $1 every year until it hits $25. This allows them to extract more money from subscribers (which they love to do, just like a mosquito likes sucking blood). This package should have been capped at $20 IMO and should include the Canadian news channels (CBC News Network & CTV News Channel).

Honestly, I am not really sure what the BDU's are so ticked off about, with the skinny basic priced so high the costs will add up quite quickly if people select a few pick n' pay channels to add to the basic package. Before you know it the bill we be around $40 or $50 bucks so what the hell is their problem?!

[PokerFace]

The BDUs also have the power of bundling services to lower prices, which makes it less likely that enough Canadians will dump the BDUs for online streaming.

I could argue that the online streamers who are paying for content are often paying through the nose, once you compare what they are paying to the price of piracy ... free, or as close to free as possible.

Netflix has done a wonderful job of selling its brand, and in turn has forced the hand of cable/satellite companies all over the world to hunker down and then gobble up whatever rights they can afford to buy. Improving Internet infrastructure to meet the demand of all this streaming is not something that the BDUs want to pay for, but as long as they have customers, those customers will be asked to pay more and more and more ... at least until the BDUs move everything online to the cloud.

If Canadians are willing to give up their favourite specialty channels and then switch to skinny basic and Netflix, while ignoring CraveTV and shomi, that's when we might see real change ... but only because Canadians have sided with the bare minimum skinny basic package, as well as a foreign invader in the form of Netflix. That's how you stick it to Canada, but if the BDUs control the Internet, how can Canadians ever be victorious in the long run?

So if that's the case, what are we fighting for? The dream of lower prices, followed by freedom of choice is something that becomes the worst nightmare for those already calling the shots. Bell is also working on crushing the independent ISPs by demanding that they pay for their own infrastructure and whether they are successful or not, doesn't really matter. That's because Canadians will always lose in the end. For every battle we win, we lose two others. Look at our ancient cable/satellite TV equipment ... I think even the Flintstones or Rubbles would be embarrassed by it. Bam Bam would smash it all in a day if he tried to program the Rogers PVR.

Instead of just cutting the cord, we also need to cut off the head of the dragon. Good luck with that. Big cable for the win.

[PokerFace]

I decided to sign up for Rogers Cable to see how things have changed and so I could watch the DirecTV/AT&T exclusive Full Circle Season 3 (can take several months to a year until pirates get it) that also happens to be currently airing on Super Channel (about 3 months behind the US). I also enjoyed Super Channel's Ice Guardians doc about hockey goons/enforcers.

Even with the bundling of Super Channel and the HD box (I've never had one before), it costs $40+tax for the month. A royal ripoff (even though that's a special reduced offer until next month or so) considering only the basic channels are included in the skinny basic package (before it was less than $20+HD box price with a bunch of channels not available over-the-air).

The actual search function of the box is extremely bad, and even the guide is slow and sluggish to respond after each button press (2 second delay). The display looks very pretty, but half the time I want to throw the box out the window. I leave it off for 90% of the day. The Internet and my OTA channels have more to offer, anyway.

My antenna and Internet gets me most of the same skinny basic programming for free in HD and the sound is a bit louder with my antenna. Oh, and the lame Rogers VOD for the TV channels still doesn't allow FF or RW through shows (standard nonsense for all BDUs I assume), so I just watch online to do that stuff (even on the TV network sites if I don't mind the annoying logo).

So, it appears that perhaps once per year, I'll still need to use cable tv to watch anything I'm in the mood to see that the pirates have failed to upload within 3 or 4 months of an airing. I still find it odd that Super Channel was the reason I returned to cable, especially since this could be its final year before it decides to surrender and close up shop (the bankruptcy protection ends soon, and then it's a crapshoot as to how it survives the rest of the way).

The Rogers unlimited 30M Internet offer was great (only $40+tax), but since it was $5 more than I wanted to pay, I stuck with my slow 5M speed (I'm in no hurry).

Big cable got me this month, but hopefully this won't be something that burns me more than once a year.

[PokerFace]

During the 3rd quarter of today's scheduled NFL game (Oakland vs Denver) on CBS Buffalo, they decided to switch to the KC vs San Diego game (since Oakland was getting crushed), but the Rogers simsub of the game with CTV still has CBS Buffalo with the Oakland/Denver game.

The simsub fails again. I hope the CRTC is still able to stick it to Bell by keeping the simsub away for the Super Bowl.

Kill the simsubs altogether and let the Canadian channels twist in the wind ... although they'll just raise prices to keep the shareholders happy and stick it to us.

[InMontreal]

During the 3rd quarter of today's scheduled NFL game (Oakland vs Denver) on CBS Buffalo, they decided to switch to the KC vs San Diego game (since Oakland was getting crushed), but the Rogers simsub of the game with CTV still has CBS Buffalo with the Oakland/Denver game.

Sounds like a rash local station programming decision, but leaving a game midway ain't usual.

At Rogers, simsubs are scheduled and automatically processed, and "someone" (reduced staff on sundays) just verify from time to time if the source and target do match, in the first 3 minutes of the show and near the end. So, if a local station switch to a different game midway, the simsub guy went dinner or is watching porn on one of those PPV channels, not having a care in the world until the end of the game expected for 7:30pm.

[PokerFace]

Yup, but I would love the CRTC to stop all simsubs for any LIVE event, including the Oscars. That would be the first step to getting rid of the simsubs once and for all.

A man can dream, but I know it ain't going to happen in my lifetime. Maybe I'll come back to earth as a ghost every few years just to see when the simsubs are finally killed.

I forgot how much I HATE the fact that simsubs exist in any form. It's probably the #1 reason that I'll never be able to keep cable tv for more than a few months before my blood starts to boil. Can't stand the idea that by paying for cable tv, I'm basically allowing the simsubs to continue. I'd rather support piracy ... something that is necessary to keep the asshats in check.

[PokerFace]

If I was paying my $40+tax for the same channels that DirecTV offered (in its basic package), I'd probably have a much harder time cancelling cable. And if it included a nice HD box that wasn't as lame as my Rogers box, well that would probably encourage me to get a PVR version and pay a little more per month. Still, at some point, I assume I would still dump US cable/satellite/IPTV and watch free online content instead. The fact that most of it is free and easy enough to find, renders the content less desirable, and thus the value of it is reduced, especially when I try to put a dollar value on it. Plus, there's only so much time in the day to watch it all, so even if the online system never failed me, my own body would never let me sit there and watch it all. My curiosity often gets the better of me, but my body has its limits that can't be bypassed for too long.

And the most important thing to remember about cutting the cord in favour of piracy and official "legal" online options is that it's not really convenient enough for a large portion of the piracy or cord-cutting community to easily obtain all the free content they are looking for, so they actually end up paying for content, or for "illegal" filehosts that allow them to download that "free" content faster. But even though the online system for obtaining and watching free content isn't always truly free (even if your Internet was free via commercial wifi spots, etc.), the (online piracy - including streaming from foreign sites) system itself is almost always better at knocking down the walled gardens that are designed to keep the "wrong" people out, even if they are willing to pay. There are of course other ways to knock down the walled gardens that might be more effective (and are still "legal" grey-area methods), but I've never used them, since I've never been offered the opportunity to (like using other people's passwords or credentials, or perhaps using a slingbox to access a friend's slingbox in another country).

Using Android boxes with various (kodi) add-ons seems to be the favoured method for rookies (and even some pros) to break into the online world of piracy, and if that trend continues to be unstoppable, the fine line between what's legal and what's illegal will get even cloudier. If the filehosts (with the pirated content) get forced or phased out, those android boxes will become less appealing, and that might open the door to another content-delivery system that isn't as efficient, or one that at least is more difficult for the rookie to understand and use as effectively.

Signing up with Rogers cable TV (or any Canadian provider offering the same content) was the only way I could pay to get something that I was curious to see. So since the generally superior online system failed me, I had to use the generally inferior cable tv system, which almost always fails me, every single week.

Cable TV has many advantages and depending on one's lifestyle, cutting the cord might not be the right move if you are trying to have a satisfactory viewing experience.

I seem to thrive as a cord cutter (even though I prefer HD TV or HD OTA viewing compared to the often inconsistent world of LIVE Internet streaming), but after many years of watching content that other subscribers have uploaded or streamed online for free, there's now just too much content that's missed, regardless of the methods I attempt to use to get it all.

Some hard-to-get stuff I can pay for if I fool the system into thinking I'm an American or Brit, but when that doesn't work, or the price is too high to justify the attempts, I just have to accept the fact that the walled gardens have defeated me.

Since you can't always get what you want, and you should be careful what you wish for, I've come to the conclusion that it's sometimes in my best interest to accept failure and be grateful that it doesn't happen as often as the inferior cable tv system wants it to. They try and try to screw things up, and at some point that walled garden will indeed get so high, that it won't be worth all the effort that it takes to climb over it.

I'm trying so desperately to cling to a content-delivery system that works for me, more times than it fails ... but when it does indeed fail, I'm often left in a state of shock. What do you mean it's not available online for Canada? Huh? Is this a joke? Really? Wow. You can't even tell me how else to get it, or when it will be available? Shiver me timbers!

If Rogers cable gave me free Cable TV with every single channel included (even the PPV ones) and a free PVR (their crappy one of course), as long as I agreed to give up using the Internet to get any free or paid content that wasn't available to Canada (so no NBC, BBC streaming, etc.), I would turn them down. However, if DirecTV or some US company offered me all the channels that they had available with a free American PVR, as long as I only streamed (or bought content) from American online sites, that would be harder to turn down ... but I probably still would (since the Internet is just too interesting to ignore). I don't trust PVRs (even American ones), and this freedom I currently have probably won't last much longer, so I might as well enjoy it while I can.

[Offenmeyer]

I've been using USTVNow through Kodi for free, which is installed on my media PC and is connected to my TV via HDMI, and it's been great for receiving the main US networks in HD, without any simsubs. You can also sign up for additional channels like ESPN. Check it out!

[PokerFace]

Rogers makes it pretty easy to hate what they offer. The HD box has nice graphics, but there's too much of a delay in between button presses, making even using the guide annoying, and the searches are unbearable as the box loads the pretty pictures. AWFUL BOX. WORST I'VE EVER USED! It also has no timers (if I hook it up to my VCR to watch later in SD), unlike my old SD box (although Rogers says that the newer SD box also has no timers).

And then there are those annoying random reboots that fail to turn the unit back on, so if I'm taping in SD to my VCR, I might come back and have nothing taped after the reboot. At least the annoying box reboot (to load guide or whatever) at 2am ET every day (for about 3 minutes) keeps the box on and the channel reappears after the reboot is finished.

And the fact that even though Rogers owns CityTv, they still only have City Toronto and City Vancouver in HD, and the rest of the CityTV channels in SD (just like all the other Canadian networks not from Tor or Vancouver).

I compared this morning's The Blacklist on NBC Seattle with Global Vancouver's broadcast (thankfully, Rogers still doesn't simsub the West feeds here), and noticed the Global logo (which is bright white and distracting) was covering the opening credits (impossible to read since both in white) because Global insists on placing the logo too close to the center of the screen. That's why I HATE watching stuff on Global (not to mention some of the snipes that might appear), and gladly switched over to NBC (even though I generally wait until the web-dl with no logos and snipes appears as an online download or stream).

Hey, at least Rogers gives free online access (when I log in, of course) to good enough 1600 kb/s streams of Sportsnet Ontario and the NFL Network (though no live NFL games are allowed on either online feed) even though I don't subscribe to either of those channels, or get them on the Rogers cable box.

Not much longer to go with my Rogers return-to-cable experiment before I return to the cord-killer life. I learned a lot about the stupid world of Canadian cable ... nothing much has changed for the better, but the fact that Rogers will partner with the Americans for their upcoming IPTV venture, is at least somewhat promising.

Hopefully, next year, Rogers will be a bit closer to mediocre, instead of just plain awful!

[PokerFace]

For the very first time in my life, I might finally be ready to cut the Internet cord (it's still a coax cable cord that allows me to stream/download TV online, so it's still like Cable TV for me) and just rely on saved content that I haven't had time to watch over the years. Sure, I'm still keeping my $25 per month (plus tax) unlimited Cell-phone Talk and Internet data plan (500MB to 2 GB of data depending on the temporary deals), but since I rarely use it for streaming video content, I don't really think of it as an Internet service used for entertainment.

My Rogers High-Speed Unlimited Internet plan currently costs just under $40 (even including the 13% tax), but soon there will probably be a price increase (barring a super deal they might offer), so it's probably a good time to see how long I can last without it. Besides, at some point in my life, I have to start trying to watch all of the stuff that I have saved over the last 30 years (which also includes VHS and DVD stuff, of course). Thus, unless Rogers offers a deal that's too good to turn down (like perhaps only $20 plus tax for high-speed, unlimited Internet), I'll probably cancel in 2 months (even though I could accept paying up to $50 plus tax each month if I really felt that I needed high-speed Internet service -- but I know it's the perfect time to cancel).

After many wonderful years of Internet viewing, I'm not as worried about missing all of the cool Internet content that is currently available to me from all over the world (both paid and unpaid), once I cancel my Rogers Internet. But how long can I last without that relatively cheap and easy access to almost everything out there? Will I still eventually develop FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)? And if I do develop FOMO, can I still hold out and not reconnect the Internet because I still have so much saved and unwatched quality content that I truly want to finish?

However, even with so much saved and unwatched quality content, the Internet is still my best way to watch even basic content, now that my free OTA TV reception is now limited due to some weaker Buffalo signals and a big building blocking some of my reception. Will that make it even more likely that FOMO will eventually get me to reconnect to a high-speed Internet service (if not Rogers, perhaps another one of the other cheap services out there -- there are so many of them, but I probably wouldn't bother, even if they were $20 a month)?

Regardless, I had a GREAT Internet run. I've learned a lot, shared a lot, and now I think it's the perfect time to retire my FOMO Internet hobby/addiction.

Come on Rogers, don't roll over and offer me that impossible-to-resist $20 per month deal when I'm finally ready to call it quits. Play hardball and tell me to take a hike. I need to retire! Sure, I still might get an irresistible deal after 3 months (after cancelling) has passed (because then Rogers considers me a "new" customer), but if I can survive 3 months without Rogers Internet, will that then give me enough strength to simply ignore the next deal and just wait until I at least finish watching all of the stuff that I have saved up over the years? I hope so, because if I'm successful, I'll once again be able to consider myself a cord cutter.

SUMMARY: Well, I think the major reason for this post was to see if I could talk myself out of cutting the Internet cord. But even after wondering if FOMO will eventually get me to reconnect the Internet, I'm still going to test myself and cut that cord ... unless of course that $20/month Rogers offer actually comes through, because that was apparently a Rogers offer from last year that many people took, so if I had a chance to get it now, I would grab it ... even though I don't really need to.

#Hey, somebody cut my cord and now it's bleeding !!!

[InMontreal]

Your problem is with Rogers. I found better better service by staying away from the usual incumbents, Bell and Vidéotron, and subscribing to an independent ISP instead, such as Teksavvy and Ebox via cable. Yes, there's a modem to buy and installation fees, but month-to-month fees are generally lower (a recent CRTC decision for lower fees is actually challenged by the incumbents at the Superior Court). Do your homework, tell Rogers you could get a sweet deal with an independent, maybe they'll listen?

Once a FOMO, always a FOMO. It's a cureable disease by spending a month camping somewhere away from civilization. Have a nice summer. :p

[PokerFace]

I hate camping, but I hope I can still beat FOMO, just like I beat Covid-19 (if my brief episode of struggling for breath was actually Covid-19 and not just an anxiety attack caused by another Trump dream where he gets re-elected).

As for Rogers, I always get good to great prices because I do mention the third-party providers, and even used them for years before Rogers matched and then beat their prices and speeds. Why use a 3rd-party ISP that uses Rogers or Bell, when I can get the same deal or better using the source itself? Plus, if Rogers has a problem with the Internet, I can call them and they actually talk to me directly, rather than waiting for my ISP to call Rogers/Bell (or wait for an update from them to pass on to me).

That's why I prefer to stay with Rogers, and then dump the Internet itself if I can't get some extremely generous deal that I can't resist, even though I'm still trying to defeat my FOMO disease before September arrives.

I just figure that at some point my good luck with Rogers pricing and service will run out and I certainly don't want to be hooked on a feeling of dependency.

Because the Internet is such a glorious provider of information and entertainment, I'm very surprised that I still feel that I can be successful at cutting its cord without losing what's left of my sanity. I think my curiosity for finding out what happens to my brain without instant access to cheap and fresh entertainment is what's driving my true desire to cut the Internet cord. The possible higher pricing that might be coming is most likely just an excuse I'm using to give myself the courage to make that scary cut, even though I don't have a financial reason to do so right now (knock on wood).

#Campers do it in the woods

[Donovan's Monkey]

...watch all of the stuff that I have saved over the last 30 years (which also includes VHS and DVD stuff, of course)...

I thought I was bad about that for still having dozens of hours of unwatched stuff I had recorded during the last few months before I cancelled my cable/IPTV service about 5 years ago. At least that's when I think it was. This past week involved a 14 hour power cut along with three days of having to be out of my apartment while workers did a lot of plumbing repairs and replacements of old fixtures and tiles, and I spent much of the days sitting in parks and malls watching some of the TV stuff I had loaded onto my mobile device. It included about the last 10 episodes of Key & Peele, which would appear to have been shown in 2015 according to Wikipedia.

If you've got that much stuff from the last 30 years and still haven't watched it through the 2020 pandemic, you probably never will watch it and might as well throw it away. How many people still have a VHS machine that works to watch the tapes?

Apart from some sports (mostly auto racing), my current viewing of anything shown on mainstream TV channels is limited to some days watching some monologue segments of the late night talk shows the next day on YouTube. I thought I would eventually get around to looking up the last 5 years of the Fox (or former Fox) animated shows (Simpsons, Bob's Burgers, American Dad!, etc.), but I still haven't gotten through the ones from 5 years ago.

Edit: I had forgotten I had recorded the entire Star Trek animated series when the 'Space' channel had a marathon showing all of the episodes back-to-back in one day. I think it was probably over the Christmas holiday, maybe in 2015? I think it was actually after I had cancelled my TV service, as I recall lugging my HDD/DVD recorder to a relative's house where was I staying for a few days while they were gone, using their Rogers terminal to record all the episodes and then recording the playbacks of them at regular speed overnight onto my HDD recorder, where they've remained unwatched for years until I just watched two of them. They're a strange combination of cheap-looking early 1970s TV animation applied to episodes that could have been written for the original live action series if it had continued for another season, although the cartoon episodes were presumably shortened to half the length and some have non-humanoid aliens that likely would not have been possible to convincingly portray at the time in live action.

[PokerFace]

I'm still going through some old DVDs and getting some better 720p or 1080p versions of them from the net. It's good to have backups anyway. That's one of the reasons why I'm behind by 2 days with my cord-cutting plan. I should need at least another week, and then I'll be perfectly fine with mostly watching the stuff that I already have. By cutting the cord, that's how I'll have time to watch more of what I've stockpiled for the next 3 years at least. When the new big movies come out (Top Gun, James Bond, etc.), I assume I'll find a way to watch them for free, but if not, I can always watch them online in 3 years or so (assuming that I'm still alive ... the Covid is coming ... run for the hills).

I watched some hockey on the CBC/NBC via my indoor antenna, but I really don't care if they all quit tomorrow. I now ignore baseball and basketball, but I have watched some F1 and enjoyed it. I'll be fine with watching the F1 highlight packages on youtube (on my phone with some buffering occasionally) once I cut out my Rogers high-speed Internet.

I'm exhausted from all my online searching for content, but once I cut the cord, the collecting of content will dwindle to acceptable levels. Proper sleep is coming soon ... Amen.

[PokerFace]

I finally cut the toughest cord on November 12 (bye bye Rogers Internet), but since I can still download from free wifi places and I also have many free TV channels to watch with my indoor antenna, I feel like I have too much of an advantage to really feel like it's a fair fight.