Shaw is offering 40 channels for $25, but it’s an extra $14 if you want Sportsnet and TSN. Other providers have declined to provide details on their plans, but all will be required to offer a basic package for $25 a month by March 1st.
VANCOUVER – Shaw Cable is the first of the big Cable companies to unveil it’s mandatory basic cable package for $25 as per regulated by CRTC but other satellite providers have been in no rush to let you know what the new mandatory $25 TV packages will look like.
Shaw outlined the details of its package. It’s 40 channels for $25, but if you want to add both Sportsnet and TSN, you can tag another $14 onto your bill.
“We have about 190 channels available to customers on an a-la-carte basis. These are channels that you can buy on their own if you have another subscription with us. You can add one or two of these channels for a separate charge,” Chethan Lakshman of Shaw Cable told News 1130.
Many of those a-la-carte channels will be available starting at $3.
Other providers have declined to provide details on their plans, but all will be required to offer a basic package for $25 a month by March 1st.
The companies are staying tight-lipped for now despite the head of Canada’s broadcast regulator firing what he calls a “shot across the bow” at these companies.
CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais is concerned service providers haven’t exactly been promoting the fact they’re being forced to offer a cheap, basic channel package by next month.
Media watchdog Michael Geist says cable companies have been trying to lure customers into longer-term packages ahead of the deadline.
“In some ways this is sort of a repeat of what we saw in the wireless space when we had to switch to two-year maximum contracts — there were efforts to try and lock people in to some of those longer contracts before the new rules took effect,” explains Geist, a University of Ottawa law professor who holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law.
