The Cost of Shrinking Cable Bills

Cable and satellite discount | BCBusiness
While the CRTC says small cable stations will survive without extra funding, long-term economic conditions aren’t all that rosy.

The CRTC voted to nix funding for local programming, cutting down on consumers’ cable bills as a result. But is the loss worth the minor discount?

Thanks to the CRTC, TV watchers across Canada will notice a slight discount on their cable bills in the coming months.
 
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission handed down a decision on Wednesday to cut the Local Programming Improvement Fund, which was established to help small stations in non-urban areas better weather the 2008 recession.
 
Now that economic conditions have improved, the CRTC had decided the 80 stations receiving $106 million in funds will do just fine on their own.
 
The extra money for the fund came from cable and satellite providers, and they often passed on the additional cost to their customers. As a result, we can all expect a monthly discount of approximately 1.5 per cent as the cost is phased out over the next two years.
 
But will these small stations fare so well once millions in additional funds aren’t there to provide extra padding for their tight budgets? The Bank of Canada predicted this week that our economy would see three quarters of slow growth, which will no doubt affect advertising revenues. It’s likely Canada isn’t out of the woods yet as the U.S. stagnates and the eurozone’s economies falter.
 
Could the slash in funding be another example of short-term thinking?