Commentary: Searching for answers? Look to The Golf Channel

Almost two years ago I wrote an article covering and an editorial lamenting Rogers Communications Inc.'s decision to remove the Golf Channel from the analog tier. Both articles were motivated by my personal displeasure with the move, but who knew the topic would eventually figure in one of the biggest regulatory hearings of the decade? During day one of the CRTC's BDU and specialty review in Gatineau yesterday, when Rogers was pressed about the incentive not to ship less popular channels off the basic tier if it was given the freedom to do so, the BDU immediately turned to the case of the Golf Channel. In June 2006, VP and GM of Rogers Cable David Purdy told Canadian Communications Reports the stimuli to move the Golf Channel off of analog were that it had a small audience and the majority of them already had digital cable. "From time to time we may move a service like this and we'll manage the customer impact in such ways that no one leaves unhappy," said Purdy at the time. Apparently, I wasn't the only one unhappy with the decision. "I learned two things that day," Purdy told the commission yesterday when revisiting the decision to move the Golf Channel off of analog. "One, the majority of our senior management are avid golfers. And two, consumers will react very strongly to changes in the channel line-up." Apparently Rogers' call centre switchboard lit up with calls of protest over the move. Purdy said in 2006 that Rogers would handle complaints by offering a promotion so Golf Channel fans could upgrade to digital cable. But, as the commission heard yesterday, the consumer fallout was so pronounced that the BDU eventually had to relocate the channel from its intended home on the Rogers Sports Theme Pack to its digital tier 4 so the 800,000 subscribers receiving the VIP pack would still have the Golf Channel. So I may have erred in 2006 when I wrote: "it says something about the power of Rogers when it can arbitrarily take a channel off the analog dial." But Rogers erred as well. Purdy also said in 2006 it was Rogers plan to transition all of its tier 3 analog specialty channels to digital within a couple of years. A couple of years later the analog dial looks the same as it did in 2006. In the context of the current hearing the case of the Golf Channel reveals the power of consumers to impact BDU decisions, even for a channel that has low enough ratings to be deemed somewhat expendable. As we start to look ahead, it's sometimes useful to take a look back.

Commentary: Searching for answers? Look to The Golf Channel

Broadcast | April 9, 2008

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