If you pay for cable and are not impressed with watching toothless people hunt alligators, this may be for you.......
Eastlink signals demise of digital theme packs
Digital theme packs have few friends in cable television land.
Eastlink announced Tuesday it is relieving its customers across Canada of the annoying industry-wide practice of selling assortments of extra digital channels in theme packs of multiple channels.
“Theme packs are the No. 1 passion point for our customers,” Eastlink regional manager Jeff Brown said in an interview.
“It is the thing people will most often complain to staff about at our retail locations, or to technicians who arrive at a home to do an install.”
The Halifax cable and communications company will begin offering single digital channel selections beginning at $2.95 per channel per month in a new service called Personal Picks.
Adding additional channels can bring down the cost per channel. For example, 12 channels can be selected for $1.25 per channel per month, while a package of 20 channels costs $1 a month per channel.
Brown said Eastlink is anticipating significant customer uptake of the new service.
The option to buy single digital channels was part of a coast-to-coast revamp of the Eastlink system officially unveiled Tuesday in Halifax.
A number of high-tech goodies for TV aficionados are included in the system revamp, such as new iPad functions and remote Internet control of digital video recording.
But the most noteworthy aspect is the option to drop theme packs.
“Our customers will no longer be required to take an entire theme pack just because they want a particular channel,” Brown said.
He said consumers do not like having to order more than one theme pack to satisfy the viewing requirements of the household.
Brown believes Eastlink is the only mainstream cable service provider in North America to offer single digital channels as an alternative to theme packs.
Subscribers to the Eastlink digital system can now watch the NHL channel without buying the entire sports theme pack of 10 channels.
Or parents can purchase the Nickelodeon channel on its own for their kids, without including the Cartoon Network, Pet Network or the other channels included in the kids theme pack.
Eastlink had to negotiate with content providers for the right to offer single selections of digital channels to subscribers and is launching the service initially with a roster of about 70 channels.
“The number of channels available for single selections will increase as negotiations continue with other content providers,” Brown said.
The Personal Picks service and a host of other new digital features will be promoted nationally in a marketing campaign called Unmatched TV.
Personal Picks does not apply to the standard channels included in a basic cable television subscription, most of which are mandated by the federal government, nor does it include some of the more expensive specialty channels.
Eastlink’s basic digital service is priced in the $32 to $35 range, depending on location.
Digital theme packs will still be available at a cost of about $5 each a month.
Eastlink signals demise of digital theme packs | The Chronicle Herald
Eastlink signals demise of digital theme packs
Digital theme packs have few friends in cable television land.
Eastlink announced Tuesday it is relieving its customers across Canada of the annoying industry-wide practice of selling assortments of extra digital channels in theme packs of multiple channels.
“Theme packs are the No. 1 passion point for our customers,” Eastlink regional manager Jeff Brown said in an interview.
“It is the thing people will most often complain to staff about at our retail locations, or to technicians who arrive at a home to do an install.”
The Halifax cable and communications company will begin offering single digital channel selections beginning at $2.95 per channel per month in a new service called Personal Picks.
Adding additional channels can bring down the cost per channel. For example, 12 channels can be selected for $1.25 per channel per month, while a package of 20 channels costs $1 a month per channel.
Brown said Eastlink is anticipating significant customer uptake of the new service.
The option to buy single digital channels was part of a coast-to-coast revamp of the Eastlink system officially unveiled Tuesday in Halifax.
A number of high-tech goodies for TV aficionados are included in the system revamp, such as new iPad functions and remote Internet control of digital video recording.
But the most noteworthy aspect is the option to drop theme packs.
“Our customers will no longer be required to take an entire theme pack just because they want a particular channel,” Brown said.
He said consumers do not like having to order more than one theme pack to satisfy the viewing requirements of the household.
Brown believes Eastlink is the only mainstream cable service provider in North America to offer single digital channels as an alternative to theme packs.
Subscribers to the Eastlink digital system can now watch the NHL channel without buying the entire sports theme pack of 10 channels.
Or parents can purchase the Nickelodeon channel on its own for their kids, without including the Cartoon Network, Pet Network or the other channels included in the kids theme pack.
Eastlink had to negotiate with content providers for the right to offer single selections of digital channels to subscribers and is launching the service initially with a roster of about 70 channels.
“The number of channels available for single selections will increase as negotiations continue with other content providers,” Brown said.
The Personal Picks service and a host of other new digital features will be promoted nationally in a marketing campaign called Unmatched TV.
Personal Picks does not apply to the standard channels included in a basic cable television subscription, most of which are mandated by the federal government, nor does it include some of the more expensive specialty channels.
Eastlink’s basic digital service is priced in the $32 to $35 range, depending on location.
Digital theme packs will still be available at a cost of about $5 each a month.
Eastlink signals demise of digital theme packs | The Chronicle Herald
