Bell targets cord-cutters with live TV streaming
BCE Inc. is launching an app-based television package in an effort to attract younger customers as viewing habits shift from traditional cable subscriptions to online video streaming.
On Monday, Bell released a new TV product called Alt TV that requires only an Internet connection, not a subscription or a settop box, for customers to watch live TV on their laptops, tablets, smartphones or TV sets.
The contract-free service starts at $14.95 per month for 30 channels, with add-ons available. But it’s only available to Bell customers in Ontario and Quebec with unlimited Internet packages with speeds of at least 25 Mbps (such plans start at $84.95 per month).
The service comes as providers experiment with new ways to keep people from cutting their TV subscriptions and to encourage cordnevers to pay for a little bit of TV instead of relying on Netflix and other online video services. Despite the popularity of Internet-protocol TV offered by telcos Bell and Telus Corp., overall TV subscriptions dropped by nearly 250,000 last year as revenue from Internet packages surpassed TV for the first time.
As Bell noticed this trend, it started working on a service to target younger professionals and people just graduating from university or college who weren’t signing up for traditional TV packages, said Rizwan Jamal, president of Bell Residential Services.
His team discovered people in this demographic often don’t have TVs, Jamal said, so Bell spent a couple years developing an app that didn’t require extra hardware. Taking away costs associated with the set-top boxes allows Bell to be “fairly aggressive” with the price for Alt TV.
It’s only available to Bell customers because broadcast licences require TV content be delivered over a managed network, Jamal said. Indeed, Bell took upstart V-Media to court for offering over-the-air TV channels over the Internet via an app. Bell won.
“At this point we’re not pursuing or looking at a service that would be over the open Internet,” he said.
Jamal wouldn’t reveal Bell’s goal for customer additions for the new product, but he did say the “overwhelming vast majority” of the TV market is interested in its traditional service.
Alt TV customers can watch two TV streams at a time through the Fine TV app, but it is not possible to record the shows. Telus launched a similar service last month called Pik TV for $20 per month, although it requires a set-top box.
Both services are cheaper than the $25 skinny TV packages providers started offering last year at the behest of the federal broadcast regulator, which mandated scaledback packages after consumers complained they paid for channels they never watched. But uptake for skinny packages has been slow.