Bell TV Pricing, themes and programming package discussion

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Well I took the plunge today and switched out of my grandfathered package (with the $10/month for HD channels) to the new HD Basic package. It turns out that I'm going to be paying the exact same each month on my bill ($69 + tax) plus I'm now going to be getting RDS/RDS HD and Animal Planet. The one thing I didn't know about this new package, is for the same price I get 6 theme packs instead of the 5 I had, so now I get an extra theme pack. I will also regain TLCHD, Showcase HD, and National Geographic HD, instead of having Tresure, Oasis, and Equator, no loss there. I'll watch more on the three I'll get instead of the three I lose. Never watched anything on Tresure or Equator, and Oasis was only on for a few minutes.
 
Theres a build your own HD package on the bell web site. Starts at $17, you can try checking that out to see if you can get the sort of setup that you're looking for. Didn't spend the time actually going through all the menus and such to see if you can only take the HD themes and such but worth a look if its possible.
 
Is this the best deal available? And i hope this is the proper thread...

I got a call from a Bell rep(company selling for bell) We have/had every intention of go back to bell in july so i had be doing some pricing. Of course she claims that this is the best deal i will ever find.... So here it is and ill try to break down the pricing as best as i can(things got confusing after a while so i end up with a tax in price:

-Phone 5 featurers 5cents/min long distance
-7meg service dsl
-hd receiver
-hd pvr receiver
-5 digital themes
-4 HD themes
-100$ deposit credit back on second bill
-no contract on phone or internet
-2 year contract for TV only
-the only real price break down i recall is that
-First year $142.07(tax in) second year and there after $157.00(tax in)

They are to call me back to more with confirm number for some reason she was at the end of her shift and would complete the deal tomorrow? Anyway im not comitted till the gear is installed(shooting for july/august)

Of there Bell site the best price i can come up with is $154.90 before taxes wich would include 6 themes instead of 5.

For me the above package suites our needs and i feel i can get all the HD stuff im after... Right now my Rogers package with no secon hd box is 170$ with movies that i dont want but had to take to get the proper my home advantage i wanted(long story dont ask)
 
The purpose of "grandfathering" program packages is ostensibly to keep existing customers happy. Personally I always expected to lose Showcase HD and NG HD at the end of the preview because I didn't have them when I first signed up. If anything Bell's mistake was to keep them in preview mode for almost a year. Many subs I suspect became so used to having these channels that they forgot their status (preview) and treated them as channels for which they were paying when in fact they were not.

Judging by the problems and confusion that Bell seems to be experiencing right now maybe it would have been better if they had made it mandatory for everyone with HD to move to the new theme structure. At the moment they don't seem to have succeeded at keeping anyone happy.
 
Any business that sells things by [monthly] subscription fee is generally designed to charge you the most they can get away with without causing all customers to run away to the competition. The industry term for this is ARPU Average Revenue Per User/Customer. In this case, Bell is not inclined to let you sign up for individual channels because their ARPU is higher if they bundle.

Accordingly, I think you'll find that you need to subscribe first to digital basic (or whatever they call it these days) for around $40/mo. And then you add on HD on top of that for another $10/mo. But that won't guarantee you get all channels, as that won't include speciality channels. To get them, you need to subscribe to them in a bundle. You subscribe to the SD channel bundle and then because you're paying for HD, you'll also be able to watch the HD equivalent channel. If you wanted every possible HD channel, you'd need to subscribe to almost every bundle... and your price for that is about another $40/mo.

And with that, Bell has got you up to a nice monthly ARPU of $100 or so... which is probably right where their target is...

Contrast that to paying something like $2 per channel... where you'd be around $40-$60 if you really wanted every possible HD channel and NO SD channels.

BTW, don't forget that not everything is available in HD... without SD I don't think you'd get a weather channel or any of the 24 hour news channels (like CNN) because they don't seem to target HD yet... (either that or Bell doesn't see the market for them yet)

Don't for a second assume I am endorsing their bad behaviour... just explaining it...
 
Hey all..
I read that there are certain HD channels that don't need subscription to their SD counterparts.... is this true?
Does this mean I can get National Geographic HD just by subscribing to the HD theme pack without subscribing to the News1 digital theme pack?
Are there other channels like this as well?

Thanks!!
 
As cslusarc said, you must wait until the end of the current billing cycle to drop any programming. Switching or adding theme packs can be done at any time.

If you mean going back to a legacy package that it not offered to new customers, that cannot be done. Once you upgrade to a new plan, there is no going back.
 
Thanks everyone I called Bell and changed my subscription yesterday :) I am going to try and find a used 3100 or 4100 local and if not I will buy one at the bell store in my local area.

To answer the question about RDS, if you subscribe to the new Sports 1 package it now comes with RDS and RDS HD
 
Hi, I am getting Bell installed today and found their website to be very confusing. From what I read TSNHD and SportsnetHD are available as $2.50 individually, yet in these forums I see people complaining that they have to take sports theme 1 in order to get TSNHD? So if this is correct I need to pay $8 for sports theme 1 in standard def then add on HD sports for another $5 just to get TSN in HD?? If so that is crazy....:eek:

edit - sorry I didn't even see the thread about HD themes however after reading it I am still confused since there is a mention that you can get TSN & Sportsnet as $2.50 pick & pay but is that for SD or HD?
 
I guess they should have changed the HD packages before the launch of the channels! To me the "free preview" was for those that did not subscribe. I have no problem with TLCHD not being grandfathered as it was launched after the new HD themes were announced.
 
I'll post this here too.

Residential Customer Agreement
These Residential Terms of Service apply to new and renewing residential customers who have signed a new or renewal contract with Bell ExpressVu as of July 1, 2008.




Residential Customer Agreement
These Residential Terms of Service apply to existing residential customers who have entered into contracts with Bell ExpressVu prior to July 1, 2008.



As you see, it is the same whether you are a new customer, or an old. as long as bell gives you notice (which they did) they have the right to change it as they see fit.

Now you, as legacy HD subscribers, were given the benefit of being able to keep your previous package at the same rate, even though no where in the agreement, does it state that they are required to allow you to keep it, and continue paying the same price for it, even after they've added more to it to justifiably warrant it costing more. which is why it is frozen at the same amount of programming it had before they changed the rates. basically its giving you the option... which as you can see, is well more than they are required to do.

So this has nothing to do with your "contract" as everything has been followed appropriately, and well beyond.

I did not see anything in the contract about a promise to get the HD equivalent of a channel as long as you subscribe to it in SD
 
You are oh so wrong. Clarification: Buy Digital Build Your Own for $32 and add $10 of HD. The only thing is - if you want TSN HD, then you must sub to Sports 1 in SD.

You can get away with Bell TV for $32 + $10 + $3 SAF = $45 - simple, yes.

$100 NO.
 
I was going to get 4 HD theme packs for $10., which is what it says on their website, and their brochure, current as of Jan 1, 2009. However, it is not what it seems.

The rep on the phone told me that A&E HD requires A&E SD first, forcing me to get one of the Variety theme pack. Only much later (more below) was this fact disputed, and was confirmed that it was not required (but they failed to swap over my theme pack requirement still afterwards).

They also said that in order to get the 4 HD theme packs for $10., I must subscribe to Sport theme pack ($8. each stand alone or included in a package), but there is nothing there to mention that from where I can read though. The reasoning is that there are only 5 theme packs to choose from, and 2 of them contains one or more Sports channels, in order to get any of the HD sports channels, you must have the SD Sports theme pack in SD first. For me who doesn't like watching sports, this is useless for me and a waste. I asked if I can just have Rush HD and not that other Sports channel, and still pay $10. for 3 and a half HD theme packs?

The answer is "no", then I asked if I can get 3 theme packs for $10. , which is asking now for less again, only to keep the price, and then was told no. Then the "offer" was that I could choose 2 HD theme packs for $10., despite I already have 7 SD theme packs and Premium Movie, they still won't give me what they advertised for : $10. for Any 4 Theme Packs.

I believe that it is a technicality issue, one could not get the deal, only because there is no more choices there, and the choices within must have one connected to the other. So the result is like this:

In order to watch all 4 HD theme packs, one must pay either $5. for each HD Themes, at a total of $20., or $10. plus the SD theme pack for Sports, at $8. totalling $18., regardless one could not obtain what is advertised, which is not clear that the Sports theme pack is required.

If this is what they want to charge, why don't they make it clear? Friend and I knew about this for the longest time and none of us clue in on that, plus I read this forum a whole lot and I recall there was a really big discussion on that, and only very few members here understand how that works.

I believe that because most people (especially males) like watching sports, and this is a non-issue, and thus few people have complaint about it. But I think it is borderline on false advertising.

What I was hoping for is that I would merely loose the Sports HD channel on the theme pack but maintain the Rush HD, but paying still $10., one should be able to get less if not qualified, rather than being forced to pay more to get less than advertised.

Businesses often substitutes products with more value if things are unavailable. But when customers asked for less, it is often complied. I got ADSL service at a discounted promo rate, but since the provider could not give me the 3Mbps speed, they thought I might not get the deal, but after consulting w/ their manager by their own staff, I got the deal but only at 1.5Mbps, so this is an example of how a business can be flexible in doing business.

Only Bell insists on their "bait and switch" tactics. If I knew that I would not be able to get all the non sports HD theme channels for $10. I would not have bought all thse HD receivers and subscribed to it. Since I have done all that, it's too late. Bell said I could cancel the service since it was within 10 days, but I could not return the receiver since it was activated. Nobody would want to buy my receiver because it would not have the initial programming credit, and I would have lost that too. What a sneaky tactic because I only found this out right after I activated, not before. The timing is only a few minutes difference, and you are caught with a no refund / return policy.

Bell surely sucks (and I thought Fido was bad).
 
a-la-carte HD channel pricing is not available from any service provider at this time. These sorts of qualifications are typical. It's the same on Rogers where certain SD channels must be purchased before you can then purchase an HD pack. The exception would be something like TMN-HD, which comes free (on Rogers) if you subscribe to TMN, but that's a premium channel...

In late 2011, there will be the possibility of a-la-carte pricing, with a minimum Canadian content requirements.

You may find that once a-la-carte pricing is available, that there is little or no reduction in pricing for the "most wanted" channels like TSN.
 
When they grandfathered the HD program in April 08 folks already were subbing for over 3 months to Showcase HD & NGHD via the $10 HD program. That stated you get any HD channel that you subscribed to the associate SD theme.
 
I'm on legacy as I haven't switched since I signed up in 2003. It's funny I get Discovery HD but not A&E HD. I subscribe to Discovery and A&E SD channels. It should be a rule with CRTC that if you pay for the SD channel and one exists in HD that you should also get it in HD at no extra charge. Hopefully they'll get rid of all the SD channels sooner than later and won't have a choice.

After the discovery hd channel trial it dissapeared for me too...couldn't see it in the guide. I phoned several times to complain and they said free promo blah blah blah...but then a day later it appeared and I still have it.
 
Yes it's crazy but that's the way it is. TSN and Rogers Sportsnet are not available as a pick and pay $2.50 add on. You also get TSN2 and Score.
 
After trying to making the changes online (twice in 2 days) and the changes never did reflect on my system I did have to phone in to get it done. I had the print out of the changes I wanted which he asked me to read to him but then cut me off because he knew better. He quoted me 98 dollars but when we were done it was down to 92. He didn't realize adding a 7th theme pack while having the movie network would reduce things. Also didn't realize I could get 4 HD packs for 10 dollars. So when I asked he add Sports one and add the HD sports he told me like 3 times it would cost me. I instisted he punch it into the computer and he was quite surprised.
 
Once again, RDSHD is NOT in the More Sports HD theme. (that's the part I was correcting, not the part about needing to have the SD version)

It's treated like all the other "free HD" channels, where you get them as long as you have the SD equivalent.

You may be confused if you're looking at Bell HD themes page, and under the More Sports theme it says this:

HD More Sports:
Even more sports programming in HD including, RSN HD, Rush HD and HDNet

Underneath that, for quite a while they had the RDSHD logo instead of the RSNHD logo by accident.
It looks like they've recently added the RSNHD logo, but didn't remove the RDSHD one.
 
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