TORONTO – Broadband and IPTV provider VMedia will launch its new basic TV package, TheSkinny on Thursday, June 4, becoming the first broadcasting distribution undertaking (BDU) to offer Canadians the skinny basic package which the CRTC has demanded, as part of the Let’s Talk TV policy hearing, that carriers launch by March, 2016.
TheSkinny costs $17.95, and has all the Canadian and U.S. over-the-air networks, such as CBC, CTV, Global, CBS, ABC, FOX, NBC and PBS, and other channels required to be included in basic packages.
"From our launch VMedia has been all about providing more choice and flexibility for consumers, letting them, as much as possible, choose the channels they want to watch," said Alexei Tchernobrivets, CEO, in a release. "We welcome the new direction in Canadian television that the CRTC has taken following its recent Let's Talk TV proceedings, including the requirement to offer Canadians a smaller, more affordable "skinny" basic package"
The package has 27 channels in total, including local affiliates of the CBC, CTV and Global networks, French-language networks SRC and TVA, other local over-the-air stations including CITY-TV, OMNI1 and 2, CHCH and YES TV, and the 4+1 U.S. networks, ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and PBS. In addition, it includes 11 other channels required to be offered in basic such as APTN, The Weather Network, TV5/UNIS, TVO, CPAC and AMI-TV. The exact channel lineup may vary among VMedia's markets, says the release.
The company has also expanded its UChoose a la carte options with the introduction of the Any Twenty. This allows subscribers to make up their own package of 20 or more channels chosen from among all of the over 60 non-premium channels in VMedia's UChoose store, for $1.50 each. In addition to requiring BDUs to offer a "skinny" basic package, the CRTC has also required programmers to make available all of their channels on a standalone and pick a pack basis by no later than December 2016. VMedia expects to be expanding its UChoose store as those channels become available.
"When VMedia launched in 2013 it was our vision to have exactly this 'skinny' basic package, and allow our subscribers to customize by adding standalone and pick a pack channels," said George Burger, advisor to VMedia. "We quickly learned that the contracts with the channel providers and economics of the deals did not allow for this, but within those limitations we put together alternatives for our subscribers that came as close to the CRTC's new landscape as possible."
VMedia is limited by agreements to offering only those channels on a standalone or pick a pack basis currently available in the UChoose store, adds the release. However other channels will be added as programmers comply with the CRTC's requirement that all channels be offered on a standalone and pick a pack basis by December 2016.
