{"id":7771,"date":"2015-02-05T09:21:22","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T14:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=7771"},"modified":"2015-05-03T20:36:47","modified_gmt":"2015-05-04T00:36:47","slug":"beginning-of-the-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=7771","title":{"rendered":"Beginning of the end?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A week ago, CRTC Chair JP Blais announced a series of decisions in a speech in my home town – London, Ontario – the cradle of Canadian cable TV. For a week, I have been considering what to write about these decisions. How can I add to the analysis that is already available?<\/p>\n

This morning, in a 2000 word essay, Greg O’Brien at Cartt.ca<\/a> released the most complete analysis and commentary: Why the Super Bowl simsub decision is the beginning of the end of the system, and of vertical integration<\/a>. I strongly urge you to read it… read it all the way through.<\/p>\n

I will just wade into the mobile TV<\/a> discussion.<\/p>\n

Last summer, inspired by the array of flavours at Momma Bear’s<\/a> in Bracebridge, Ontario, I wrote a piece called “Tiger ice cream and the digital economy<\/a>“.<\/p>\n

Mobile TV has been under examination by the CRTC to see if rules are being broken because people can\u2019t get open internet video streaming for the same effective cost per megabyte as packaged mobile video. Frankly, my initial reaction would be to respond that mobile carriers marketing departments should be free to choose whatever products they want to offer. Some service providers only offer voice and text. Isn\u2019t it up to the service provider to decide whether they offer data and at what speeds?<\/p>\n

If you want open internet, here is the price per megabit per second and here are the terms and conditions. If you don\u2019t accept those conditions, please feel free to find another service provider.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t mandate that ice cream stores offer tiger ice cream \u2013 although maybe we should \u2013 nor do we limit them from offering more than vanilla flavour. We don\u2019t even require them to offer vanilla.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Price discrimination is not against the law, contrary to the views being expressed by many. I saw one piece<\/a> that said:<\/p>\n

Indeed, the CRTC found that a member of the public viewing identical programming would pay $5 if they were a Bell mobile TV customer and $40 (a difference of 800%) if they did not subscribe by way of Bell\u2019s mobile TV service. In these circumstances, how could the CRTC find other than that Bell and Videotron, in their roles as signal transmission providers, had discriminated against the customers of other Internet streaming services available in the mobile market?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is actually a 700% difference, but that is irrelevant. Massive discounts for subscriptions are the norm as those of us who still like glossy paper know. Consider magazines. It is quite common for annual subscriptions to be priced at 80-90% off the individual cover prices. My newspaper delivery is less per month than I would pay per day at the convenience store.<\/p>\n

\"Mobilicity<\/a>In “Roadblocks for an innovation economy<\/a>“, I observed “The UK was concerned that net neutrality regulation might prevent pricing innovation, differentiation of offers and serve to discourage investment in higher-speed access networks.”<\/p>\n

Through the years, carriers have tried various means to encourage adoption of new services, including special flat rate prices for certain services (Canadians have demonstrated an affinity for flat rate over variable pricing).<\/p>\n

Even today, Mobilicity offers an “Unlimited Light Data” plan that provides unlimited access to certain popular social media websites, but not others.<\/p>\n

Such plans were common in the early days of mobile internet, encouraging the adoption of smartphones and getting consumers into the idea of incremental data plans.<\/p>\n

But in reference to the Mobile TV decision, in his interview with Cartt.ca, CRTC Chair JP Blais said “this is about an open internet. It\u2019s about making sure that there aren\u2019t fast lanes and slow lanes.”<\/p>\n

No data was being slowed down or sped up, so are we to interpret this statement as a ban on bundling data for certain applications?<\/p>\n

As such, is Mobilicity’s Light Data add-on next to be shut down?<\/p>\n

As I wrote last summer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Should the dairy board be investigating why my ice cream shop charges the same price per scoop for truffle packed ice cream as it does for plain vanilla?<\/p>\n

I doubt I would ever find tiger ice cream if my local shops needed to get bureaucratic approval.<\/p>\n

The digital economy framework shouldn\u2019t block service innovation and differentiation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In Canada and the United States<\/a>, government bodies are increasing their intervention in the internet.<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, I wrote about special pricing plans in a piece called “Zero is better than nothing<\/a>.” It concluded “Consumers can benefit greatly from creative, competitive, targeted pricing plans. Regulators need to be careful imposing restrictions on the evolution of business models.”<\/p>\n

In addition to our annual Regulatory Blockbuster, The 2015 Canadian Telecom Summit<\/a> [June 1-3 in Toronto] will be presenting a panel of leading economists from both sides of the border to explore the impact on innovation and investment. Early Bird prices are available until the end of February. Register<\/a> today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A week ago, CRTC Chair JP Blais announced a series of decisions in a speech in my home town – London, Ontario – the cradle of Canadian cable TV. For a week, I have been considering what to write about these decisions. How can I add to the analysis that is already available? This morning, …<\/p>\n

Beginning of the end?<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBeginning of the end? • Telecom Trends<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A week ago, CRTC Chair JP Blais announced a series of decisions in a speech in my home town - London, Ontario - the cradle of Canadian cable TV. 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