Bell TV Pricing, themes and programming package discussion

**MarkB** · 07-30-2010, 05:53 PM

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.

07-30-2010, 05:57 PM

where's that, i ordered the 5 themes and would like to know

07-30-2010, 06:03 PM

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.

07-30-2010, 06:07 PM

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)

07-30-2010, 06:17 PM

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.

07-30-2010, 07:52 PM

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...

07-30-2010, 08:08 PM

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!!

07-30-2010, 08:17 PM

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.

07-30-2010, 08:33 PM

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

07-30-2010, 08:36 PM

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....

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?

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