Cable Bahamas seeking URCA approval to restructure its packages accordingly
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Cable Bahamas has told its regulator that an increasing number of its subscribers prefer to stream television services to watch content instead of watching the traditional TV services it offers, contributing to a reduction in subscriptions and viewing hours.
Cable Bahamas is seeking approval from the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) to restructure its REVTV offers for residential and business pay television subscribers.
According to Cable Bahamas, in order to align its REVTV offers with customer viewing habits, the company is proposing to reduce content costs of its REVTV plans by removing channels it deems to have low value to customers. The company also plans to replace some of the more popular channels with cheaper content in line with the Hallmark approach piloted by OUR TV last year.
URCA, in its recently released consultation document for Cable Bahamas’ application for repackaging its REVTV offers, noted: “In the application documents, CBL explained that an increasing number of people prefer to stream TV services to watch content when and where they desire instead of watching the traditional TV services offered by CBL.
“CBL believes this shift in viewing habits has contributed to a reduction in TV subscriptions and viewing hours for its traditional TV services.”
The company undertook an extensive review of customers’ TV viewing habits, in response to declining subscriptions and to better understand the value and use of its existing REVTV services.
“The review revealed that several TV channels offered by CBL are only viewed by a limited number of customers, resulting in high content costs per view,” URCA noted.
“The high content costs per view occur because CBL pays for content on a per-subscriber basis regardless of whether subscribers are watching the channel. These costs are especially relevant in the case of the REVTV PRIME package because it has the most subscribers.”
The regulator added: “CBL further explained that it did not consider a price increase for REVTV PRIME to be in the best interest of customers if the price increase is used to pay for content that does not contribute to customer satisfaction.
“Instead, CBL’s strategy is to align its REVTV offers with customer viewing habits while maintaining the same headline price of REVTV PRIME.
“CBL stated its proposed approach aims to do the following: reduce content costs of REVTV plans by removing channels that CBL deems to have low value to customers and replace some of the more popular channels with cheaper content, in line with the Hallmark approach piloted by OUR TV last year.”
It was noted that based on audience insights, CBL’s customers preferred to have simplified packages to make it easier to find the content they want to watch. As a result, CBL created several “add-ons” with tailored options for customers.
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