Bell Canada Discontinuing Video Store - Even anti-competitive tactics couldn't keep it afloat...

Bell Canada Discontinuing Video Store - Even anti-competitive tactics couldn't keep it afloat...
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Bell Canada Discontinuing Video Store
Even anti-competitive tactics couldn't keep it afloat...
09:51AM Wednesday Jun 10 2009 by Karl Bode
tags: competition · business · telco · world · Bell Sympatico · TekSavvy Solutions Inc.
Tipped by fatness

Last year, Bell Canada started throttling wholesale customers without telling them. Not only did that prevent independent Canadian ISPs from selling DSL service that was better than Bell Canada's throttled DSL service -- it gave Bell Canada's video store a leg up -- by throttling competing P2P video delivery options (already very limited in Canada). Even that didn't seem to help, as Bell has now announced that they're closing down the unopopular video store as of June 15 -- though they're still offering a limited selection of video on demand offerings. "Funny how Bell must have the infrastructure/bandwidth to handle digital video, but can't keep up 100kB/s @ 7/24 for the DSL they either retail or wholesale," complains one of our users.

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anon @ 10th Jun 10:51AM:
In the end it's no real surprise

Maybe now Bell will return to the line of business they are in:
POTS
- and -
if they get their act together, become the best common carrier they can be.

Bell - the gang that couldn't deliver bits straight.
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El Quintron @ 10th Jun 11:00AM:
Good Riddance

This was a typical Bell offering...

Looks like something the competition would offer, but inferior quality, a higher price, and not exactly what customers want.

But hey, a failing product is the perfect opportunity for them to do what they do best, and ask the government for more of my money...
--
Working to bring you closer to a Bell and Rogers free household.
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Thane_Bitter @ 10th Jun 11:19AM:
P.S. Send us more money

I can't believe it lasted as long as it did. "Bell Home Monitoring & Security" & "Bell video store", are there other Bell projects which have failed?

The sad reality I suspect Bell will claim that "excessive traffic" was the reason why the pulled the plug, and that they had no choice but to 'manage' their network and kill it.

In a time when Amazon and other digital media providers started to offer non DRM products, Bell does the opposite and offers ONLY DRM downloads. With their store gone, how will it affect the DRM media files of which customers paid for?
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chronoss2009 @ 10th Jun 11:23AM:
hahahaha

and we know that's a crock and so goes no where , don't be pessimistic about it, think of there failure and what will come as an eye opener and keep up the heat for NO UUB
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El Quintron @ 10th Jun 11:32AM:
Needs to be taken out back the barn...

The problem with Bell is that it's the rabid dog that nobody has the courage to deal with.

And by this I mean no disrespect to rabid dogs everywhere.

:p
--
Working to bring you closer to a Bell and Rogers free household.
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Thane_Bitter @ 10th Jun 11:48AM:
Re: Needs to be taken out back the barn...

Courage is one thing, but Bell has a rather large, well funded legal team, as well as people-puppets like IEDM’s Marcel Boyer giving them support; politicians tend to gravitate towards money. Remember we have a duopoly of telecommunication companies, and Rogers has already capped and throttled their customers. The CRTC has ruled that Bell may do the same.

If Bell's proposed UBB system goes through Canadians might as invest in soup cans and string, because Rogers will soon implement the same thing. :mad:
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anon @ 10th Jun 01:04PM:
what a joke

hehe ... that is so funny. Bell just like our government sinks money onto crap that does not work and it is totally useless. VS is one of these examples, i bet you there are 100's of these pet projects that our great ISP is doing we just don't know about it.

I am a Bell customer, unfortunately and looking how this so called "business" being run it is a miracle that they are still around.

If UBB becomes a reality ... am going back to the caveman times ... dial-up baby :)
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DJMASACRE @ 10th Jun 01:25PM:
Re: what a joke

said by HX :

hehe ... that is so funny. Bell just like our government sinks money onto crap that does not work and it is totally useless. VS is one of these examples, i bet you there are 100's of these pet projects that our great ISP is doing we just don't know about it.

I am a Bell customer, unfortunately and looking how this so called "business" being run it is a miracle that they are still around.

If UBB becomes a reality ... am going back to the caveman times ... dial-up baby :)

and remember ... as usual, nobody either cares enough to speak up against them .... or surprisingly .. doesnt even know anything wrong is happening at all :(
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sonicmerlin @ 10th Jun 02:38PM:
Re: what a joke

The masses are too stupid to realize these things. That's why you have consumer interest groups to lobby the government for help. Of course, when your government is run by Republicans whose sole motto is to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, no one listens to those groups.
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cpsycho @ 10th Jun 02:52PM:
Re: what a joke

Give it another month and the liberals will make the government fail. The PC have be losing support, if NS is any indicator of the next election PC is gonna be on the bottom of the list.
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en102 @ 10th Jun 03:21PM:
Re: Good Riddance

Don't forget, use it as an excuse to complain about the consumption of bandwidth.
--
Canada = Hollywood North
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KrK @ 10th Jun 04:45PM:
I think they are dropping it FOR NOW because of appearance

... of obviously anti-competitive, anti-net-neutrality actions.

IE they are dropping this service because it adds too much ammo to the side who wants to show Bell's throttling is anti-competitive.

I'm betting they'll bide their time. IF they win, the throttling becomes permanent, and the ISP's lose, later down the road they'll reintroduce this service.
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini

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psheldrake1 @ 10th Jun 06:56PM:
Bell Canada Discontinuing Video Store

Being a non bell customer, I am still shafted by their actions. My ISP uses their lines. bell is still alowed to throttle and traffic shape for no reason. Time to through the sabo into the machne.
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anon @ 11th Jun 08:21AM:
Re: I think they are dropping it FOR NOW because of appearance

said by KrK :

... of obviously anti-competitive, anti-net-neutrality actions.

IE they are dropping this service because it adds too much ammo to the side who wants to show Bell's throttling is anti-competitive.

I'm betting they'll bide their time. IF they win, the throttling becomes permanent, and the ISP's lose, later down the road they'll reintroduce this service.

I'd almost bet the ranch on it!
But it's a somewhat of a good sing for those of us fighting them.
We've put up a big enough stink that they've been forced to shut the site down for the time being due to the anti-competitive nature of it and now there's far more eyes watching the situation unfold than I'm sure Bell ever thought of watching..
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mlerner @ 11th Jun 06:45AM:
Re: I think they are dropping it FOR NOW because of appearance

Actually in this case I think it was because they are introducing another service dubbed "Bell TV Online" »tvonline.bell.ca/tvonline/servle···ssid=105

The Video Store was actually resold from another company and there doesn't seem to be much demand, mostly because of the horrible windows media DRM, low selection and high prices.

Of course the other part could be the anti-competitiveness which we all know about now because in their latest submission to the CRTC, they even spell it out that they want to kill competition!
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