Saturday, July 29, 2006

Discrimination against Fox News

I'm a Shaw Cable subscriber, and I have a bit of a beef with them. Almost any of their "Digital" channels are available for $2.49/month each.

The exception that I'm concerned about is Fox News. CNN is on basic cable, MSNBC is availabe for $2.49/month, but Fox News is only available as part of a News Pack for $6.95/month. (Shaw Channels)

Why is it that I can get the low-rated, left-wing, MSNBC for less than half the cost of Fox News? Why do I have to subscribe to BBC, Bloomberg, National Geographic, and Discovery Civilization to get Fox News?

Is this just a Shaw thing, or is this a CRTC thing with them protecting Canadians from the evils of Fox News by making them pay more for it?

8 comments:

Albertan Technophile said...

While I agree with you that Foxnews should be the same price as MSNBC, since about 40% of my TV time is spent on Discovery Civ (history junkie here) if I had shaw cable I'd have already got the bundle.

I checked Starchoice and its the same deal there, if yah want Foxnews, buy a bundle. Except it only offers CNN as part of a bundle as well.
https://secure.starchoice.com/english/store/signup_pr.asp

JeffG said...

OK, OK, I admit it...I watch Discovery Civ too...still we're at $4.98 vs. $6.95.

ferrethouse said...

Up until two weeks ago I was with Shaw and I subscribed to FoxNews without having to buy the Discovery Civilization package. I paid about 2 dollars per month. Unless they changed it I think you are mistaken.

I'm with Bell Expressvu now because Shaw's guide sucks bumb.

Albertan Technophile said...

My only bitch about Starchoice is that my 5 year old reciever is starting to burn out, one channel at a time. Heh, time for a new one...

JeffG said...

ferrethouse, click on the Shaw Channels link, just above where you fill in your name and stuff it says:

* Fox News can only be subscribed to as part of the News Pack for $6.95 per month.

Anne (happier in Ontario) said...

My cable company, Norcom, is the same thing: CNN is part of the basic, which is what I have, and if I want Fox I must subscribe at the same rate that you mentioned. I have only seen Fox news a few times when I was visiting at someone's home or hotel.

Spitfire said...

I'm with ExpressView and I can't get ANY news station, not CNN or even CP24 without paying for the "news package" $6.95 Definitely feel the pain.

Classic said...

_You see LOOK Communications. Last Dec 15th (IN WRITING) they dismantled their long time $1 pick 'n pay for 3 set levels; Bronze, Silver, Gold.
_CBC Newsworld - Bronze. CTV Newsnet(!), CNN, CNBC-Cdnfeed - Silver at 10$ more a month. Formerly CBC & CTV's News channels were part of a far cheaper basic core package. In truth, they are still delivering CTV/CNN to this automatically switched Bronze subscriber - unannounced & unguaranteed.
_Of course, they've don't even offer FoxNews or MSNBC (or Dis.Civ, etc).