Canada makes mobile TV more affordable
Feb 7, 2012 4:00 PM, by Franklin McMahon
The Canadian mobile phone company is adopting a new rate plan to attempt to get more of its customers to watch mobile TV.
Bell is rethinking its rates for mobile TV and wants to increase adoption by making sure all have access. Other companies are taking notice. Canada has been slow to gain in the mobile-TV race, and a lot of that has to do with the higher prices it charges specifically for mobile video options. Currently, Bell is handling this separately, and above and beyond the standard rates it charges, is an extra $5 a month for 5 hours of mobile-TV usage. Treating mobile TV not unlike a separate text messaging plan typically amounts to a user more focused on keeping the amount down than truly enjoying the service.
The company has dedicated to change that starting this week. Bell is changing its current rate of $60 a month to incorporate mobile-TV viewing. The new package will offer the same aspects of the current one, with 200 minutes, 1GB of data and unlimited nationwide talk to 10 numbers, but will now bake in the five hours of mobile TV. So now many Canadian customers may start to engage more in mobile TV viewing because it is part of their plan. In addition, any extra hour of mobile TV viewing comes at the rate of $1 per hour. Factoring in movies and TV shows, watching a favorite program could come out to a buck or two after the standard plan video rate is expended.
The main goal with Bell, and one that is used here in the states, is to not separate mobile TV as a separate service — a service that can be canceled or not utilized. By roping it into everything else, the goal is to increase adoption and make sure everyone can watch more mobile TV. Bell plans to watch usage closely as this new plan goes into effect and hopes to tweak the new method to get all of its customers watching more video on their mobile devices.
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