Government mandate to force TV providers to offer pick-and-pay pricing for channels.

[willystyle]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

That's still expensive, even for dedicated Internet service.

I pay less than $70/month taxes included for HDTV service (TSN, Sportsnet One) and 20 Mbps Internet with a 250 GB cap (which is all I need for Netflix). Novus FTW.

The way I look at it, the telcos are still going to get your money whether your subscribe to cable or not. Everyone needs internet service and if you want to shift everything to internet, you're going to pay for it through increased speeds, or increased bandwidth (because what's the point of buying an HDTV if you're not going to stream HD content?) OTA is great, but it's rather limited in Vancouver unless you have a house and have the ability to invest in proper equipment. And if you're a sports fan, you're basically forced to subscribe to cable unless you want to deal with unreliable streams and pop-up ads.

My comparison was without a bundled service. Obviously when you bundle your internet service with other services, it will cost less.

A dry Shaw cable with no other services for 50Mbps/2.5Mbps 400GB cap is $80/month

NHL GameCenter cost roughly $20/month. Still cheaper than paying an average of $150/month for bundled services to Shaw or Telus, for most. And Novus is only accessible to a very small population. Shaw and Telus is a major player that reaches way more of the population.

Originally Posted by twitchyzero

pretty sure telus 50/10 internet is $80/mo...bw caps not enforced

It's enforced, to their discretion. You probably haven't downloaded enough.

[truth]

Recently made the switch to teksavvy from shaw to stream shows on xbmc. Pretty satisfied with my choice so far and don't see myself going back.
Posted via RS Mobile

[Lomac]

Keep in mind that just like in the cellular business, companies like Shaw and Bell charge more because they have a much larger infrastructure overhead than smaller companies like Teksavvy, who only service smaller areas.

[willystyle]

Originally Posted by Lomac

Keep in mind that just like in the cellular business, companies like Shaw and Bell charge more because they have a much larger infrastructure overhead than smaller companies like Teksavvy, who only service smaller areas.

They serve the same areas that the incumbents serves, as they are essentially riding on their backbone.

[Bouncing Bettys]

Yay more "freedom" on the old boob tube! Thank you Harper for helping the dwindling middle class on this one. I had been concerned with economic and environmental issues and was starting to want answers, including those pertaining to the conduct of your government, but all is forgiven. While you're at it, please continue to cut funding to the CBC because I'm to busy watching Porter Ridge and Pawn Stars.

*end sarcasm rant*

It can be argued that selflessness is quite a rare thing, especially in politics. On the surface it looks like Harper is looking out for the middle class, giving them more freedom while taking on the big bag media giants. Instead this will just give the cable companies an excuse to gouge consumers for even more money.

The other reason for this political gesture may be to distract voters from real issues Harper is unable/unwilling to address. Or he may be trying to distract from answering questions over the performance and conduct of his party. There are many very important issues facing the middle class and this is the issue he decides to tackle while dodging question period or proroguing parliament yet again? It would seem to me he is just throwing a bone to the voters in the hopes we might not notice.