ExpressVu relies on “automatic renewals” to keep NHL Center Ice subscribers

Bell ExpressVu says it hasn’t received any customer complaints over automatic renewal of its NHL Center Ice package, despite its similarity to a controversial marketing practice since abandoned by its cable competitors. The satellite TV operator insists the practice is not negative option marketing. The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), however, questions its legality in contract law. As for the CRTC, it’s staying clear of the whole issue. Subscribers who sign up for ExpressVu’s pay-per-view hockey package are automatically renewed for another season, unless they "call to cancel prior to the start of the following season," according to the firm’s web site. Once the season starts, due to contractual agreements with the NHL, no refunds or cancellations are allowed. GALLOWAY COULD RE-INTRODUCE NEGATIVE OPTION BILLLiberal MP Roger Galloway is putting aside plans to reintroduce a private member’s bill banning negative optioning to concentrate on his bid to become Speaker of the House. But Galloway’s staff assured CCR that if he fails to get the position, he would take up the cause again. Although his private member’s bill does not propose an outright ban on negative-option marketing, it would protect the right of consumers to express consent prior to purchasing a new product or service from not just cablecos but all federally regulated undertakings, including telcos and banks.Bell ExpressVu director of communications Rosemary MacGilchrist, says the practice will soon be applied to the company’s other sports packages, including its WWF Power Slam and soccer programs. She adds that ExpressVu will conduct an audit in the next few months to gauge customer response to the practice. Cable operators came under fire in 1995 for using negative optioning, a practice the industry has voluntarily abandoned. NHL Center Ice is also available on Rogers digital service in Ontario, but according to Colette Watson, VP of programming and external relations at Rogers Cable Inc, customers are not automatically renewed. "We like our customers to choose if they want to subscribe to the service again," Watson states. Like the Bell ExpressVu offering, the cable package has a no cancellation or refund policy once the hockey season begins. MacGilchrist says there is a misleading perception that automatic renewal is negative optioning. But a negative option discussion paper released by Industry Canada in 1996 defines the practice as requiring consumers to expressly reject offerings to avoid being charged for the product or service. She adds that Bell ExpressVu advised current subscribers by letter before the start of the 2000-2001 hockey season that they could cancel the service. However, CCR knows of at least one subscriber who never saw the letter. As a result, the subscriber was surprised to receive a bill containing a line reading NHL Center Ice Package: $0. But the $49.75 charge – the first of four payment installments for the hockey package – had been included under the heading "Other." And since the hockey season had already started, the subscriber was told it was too late to cancel the package. PIAC’s executive director and general counsel questions whether the marketing practice conforms with the principles of contract law. In Michael Janigan’s view, ExpressVu is presupposing that the absence of consumer consent means acceptance. "As a licensed authority, this practice should not be permitted. ExpressVu is pushing the envelope beyond the worse days of cable," he contends. A senior CRTC source told CCR that the commission has remained low key on the whole issue, because it endorses some forms of negative optioning to ensure the viability of specialty services, particularly in the French-language market. The commission defends the practice, however, saying it’s in the public interest and supports the cultural objectives of the Broadcasting Act, the source points out.

ExpressVu relies on “automatic renewals” to keep NHL Center Ice subscribers

Broadcast | January 17, 2001

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