TORONTO – Cogeco Inc. CEO Louis Audet said today that as programmers continue to push carriers for more and better distribution on one side, consumers are pushing back on the other side against price increases and in favour of flexibility – and the two are headed for an inevitable crash.
The CEO of the fourth-largest Canadian cable company told the Scotia Capital 2011 Telecom and Tech conference in Toronto Tuesday morning that there is “a tendency for programmers to try and push things on distributors in greater quantities,” where they want more and more of their channels carried in ever-larger packages available to the most customers.
But huge programming packages populated with what amounts to many unwatched channels by individual consumers is something Cogeco customers are turning away from, said Audet. “Customers are increasingly asking for only what interests them while programmers are asking for their programming to be put into large packages that everyone gets… and the two are on a collision course,” he explained.
Audet pointed Stateside, where cable packages are generally larger and somewhat more expensive than Canadian theme packs, and noted that some MSOs have experienced larger than expected customer losses in 2010. (Ed note: Comcast lost about 275,000 customers in the last quarter from its 23 million sub total.)
“It’s a danger that is underlying the Canadian scene and we have to be careful managing that,” he said. “The customer makes the ultimate decision… and we are here to please – and defend – our customer.”
– Greg O’Brien
