Changes to Ignite TV Channels in Packages and Theme Packs

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I'm starting this thread to give us a place where changes to the Ignite TV channel lineups can be announced and discussed.

Rogers already has pages that show Free Previews and New Channels but I have not been able to find any pages that list planned/upcoming changes to the default channel lineups for Ignite TV Packages, Theme Packs or the Flex Channels that we can choose from.

For example, my latest bill contains a note informing me that Fox Sports Racing will no longer be part of my package effective June 14, 2020 but will still be available to subscribers as part of the Adventure Theme Pack.  However, it still shows as an included Flex Channel in Premier and an optional Flex Channel in Popular.

@CommunityHelps  Are you aware of any other upcoming changes that you can share here so that we can also plan accordingly?  Thanks!

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[danno100]

Mine went down also the other day...When I went into my account is showed as Premier still having Fox 1 Sports as a Flex channel, but the only way I got it back was to pay $7 extra, ot buy an adventure pack which I had all the channels in there. It's just a money issue, to grab more from customers. They are just screwing themselves, look at all the bad publicity ..not how your treat customers paying for the highest level of channels, taking that away and then asking for $7 more to get it back??? It can be streamed on the internet, just have to get a suitable DVR system so I can record the content. Some of the NHRA stuff doesn't always air until 1am, so can't watch it live....Not a Happy Customer.....

I

[User1030445]

 The Ombudsmen got back to me already,  says mgmt will be following up today or Monday.  Will see what they have to say. 

  Danno100 did you receive any notification that Fox Racing would be removed in June?  Check your bill May or June bill,  I did not receive any notification.  I went back 6 months and nothing from Rogers on this, that violates CRTC policy.

[User1030445]

The rep got back to me regarding Fox Racing. Her first solution was for me to downgrade my internet to cover the $7 of cost to retain the Fox channel.  Geez what are these Rogers people thinking , no respect at all shown for customers.  

  That was it , done with this , the attitude you get from Rogers.  I received no notice of this change, that allows me to walk anytime from Rogers,   time to move on. 

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@User1030445  Did you ever try sending a Private Message to @CommunityHelps  to see if they could find any other options for you?

[User1030445]

The rep is supposed to be from the Presidents Office she tells me, not sure Community Help is going to be able to assist.  The rep is calling me from BC,  kinda doubt the President of Rogers is located in BC.  Just another contact person,  needs a little more training IMHO.

[danno100]

I went back and saw it in the top right hand corner of my bill from April. I never look up there. I chatted with a rep the other day and she was not very helpfull, she  wasn't seeing that under my Premier pack Fox 1 Sports was still a flex channel, she said that's not what was on Rogers.com..no wonder I see seeing negative comments from people...I guess for now the bandits can take my extra $7 until racing season is over and then will remove and see how I can find a suitable dvr to record the stream off the internet.

[aboyaci]

I reported much earlier on this forum that there was no notification on my invoice about discontinuing FOX Sports Racing, I actually have no notification at all. I checked every single invoice. I see the MSNBC, CNBC and Golf Channel note in the June bill, but nothing about FOX Sports Racing. Rogers did the same thing with AMC, they never gave us the note for that either, neither for Stingray channels that were being taken off left right and centre. And yes, I read the invoice cover to cover on a paper bill, not a PDF.

[User1030445]

 I looked thru all my bills the last 6 months  including a 2nd look at April and see no notification of the removal of Fox Racing.  I wonder if Rogers didn't notify Premium digital customers, only Ignite customers?

 Any surprise that the only sport to re-launch in North America  the last month is car racing and suddenly Rogers removes Fox  Racing from your package and forces you to subscribe separately with an up-charge.  This sounds like someones bright marketing idea to raise revenue.  Just a bad idea to put it to customers like this.

I received a call again yesterday from Rogers regarding my report to the Ombudsmen's office,  the same rep called me back that called me earlier in the week.  This person has no empathy for her customers concerns,  she glosses over the issues I raise  almost as if she doesn't hear me, not worth my time or effort to deal with this individual.

 The CCTS represents the body that investigates CRTC complaints.  I received this back from them yesterday on this matter.  I obscured the complaint number for privacy purposes.  Rogers must now respond to them on this matter  within 15 days, an investigation has been launched.

We have received your complaint 000000010XXXXXX  and hereby advise you that your complaint falls within the scope of our mandate and will be processed in accordance with our Procedural Code

 Sorry about hi-jacking this thread but this matter seems bigger than just each of us individually losing Fox Racing, the way they did it ,  the timing with car racing returning ,  the push to up-sell this looks like a corp policy gone dumb.  Customers are stakeholders in Rogers,  they deserve more respect than this ham handed move.

[RogersHarry]

Hello @aboyaci @User1030445

Thanks for your post

As someone who watches Fox Sports Racing, I know how upsetting this change can be especially if there was no warning. Fox Sports Racing was set to expire as of January 1st, 2020, however, an agreement was reached between Rogers and the broadcaster. This enabled us to extend the channel as part of the package until June 15th at which point it became an add-on channel.

Bill notifications were sent out to both our Ignite and Digital tv customers in regards to this. We'd like to take a closer look to see why this wasn't sent for you. 

Please send a private message to @CommunityHelps so we can locate your information on our file and get started.

If you aren't familiar with our private messaging system please click here

Cheers
RogersHarry

[57]

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@RogersHarry wrote:  Bill notifications were sent out to both our Ignite and digital tv customers in regards to this.

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I don't believe this was done.  If it were, one of the usual people would have reported it here or over on Digital Home Forums and it was not. I just re-checked all my bills back to November and there was nothing there regarding FoxSR.  There was information regarding Portuguese Radio, FYI, AMC, Golf Channel, MSNBC,  CNBC, etc. as discussed here and over on Digital Home.  I'm a digital cable (Premier) customer.

[User1030445]

Guarantee the notification didn't come to me ,  I checked and double checked my bills just as you did 57.  I am a digital cable customer as well not Ignite.

Somebody at Rogers  bungled this badly.

[User1030445]

"Fox Sports Racing was set to expire as of January 1st, 2020, however, an agreement was reached between Rogers and the broadcaster. This enabled us to extend the channel as part of the package until June 15th at which point it became an add-on channel."

 So how does that explain how it became an add-on channel and not left in the Premium packages?   I doubt Fox Racing would negotiate it's removal from a much wider audience in the Premium packages.  That would makes no sense,  Fox would want as many people as possible to see their programming.

  What does make sense is the only live sports on television today  is car racing due to Covid.  Rogers sees the numbers of viewers,  therein lies the opportunity.  By removing Fox Racing from the Premium package  they can now raise their revenues with Fox as a stand alone channel or packaged as an upgrade,  after all they have a  captive audience and they know it.

[stefer009]

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@danno100 wrote:

Ishe said that's not what was on Rogers.com..no wonder I see seeing negative comments from people...

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Had some odd issues trying to add a theme pack that had a 50% off promo for 12 months... MyRogers kept giving me errors.  Contacted chat support, they said they could do it, but they said there was no promo... argued with me that it wasn't listed as an applicable promo.  (I had asked here for help and one of the experts said that i would get 50% off the mentionned price), so I was about to give up and not sub to the theme pack.... then they asked me for a screenshot, so I did, and sent them the link...   Had to go check with their support as to why they didn't see the promotional pricing...  took a good 10 mins to get it sorted out.   Its annoying!  

[aboyaci]

And what is Rogers going to do when they investigate and figure out the obvious that the notification was never provided? Just waste my time and move on with business, right? Thats how things are run here. Rather than admitting that someone messed up, and waste the customers' time, (and instead of rewarding the customer that actually brought this issue to attention, waste more of that customers' time), why dont you fix the issue without adding more problems for the customer?

[WPM1951]

I also did not receive any messages on my bills that Fox Sports Racing would be removed on June 15. I did however receive the following message on my May 15 bill

TV CHANNEL UPDATE: FOX SPORTS RACING

Continue to enjoy Fox Sports Racing. Please ignore our earlier notice
about the removal of this channel.

Yet the channel was removed on June 15

To me it appear that when they issued the above message they did not cancel the changes to Fox Sports Racing for June 15!

I have contacted Roger Share a Concern but was not able to get a resolution.  My issue has been escalated to the Office of the President hopefully this can be resolved & reinstated to our channel lineup 

[User1030445]

As I have mentioned the CRTC investigative group has opened a file on this Fox issue.  Rogers will have 15 days to respond.  Probably a lot of people impacted, very few show up here.

[JamesLeung]

Folks I just found the following post by Rogers:

"We’ve reached an agreement with the content provider of Golf Channel, CNBC and MSNBC to continue providing these channels as part of our TV packages.

Great news! As part of our continuous effort to provide our customers with the content they want, we have reached a fair agreement to continue offering Golf Channel, CNBC and MSNBC as part of your TV package. With this agreement in place, these services remain as channel options, and your TV package remains the same.

If you have any questions about this notice, please feel free to contact us.

We appreciate your business and thank you for being a Rogers customer."

Last updated: June 29, 2020

[JamesLeung]

With carriage negotiations out of the way,  I was hoping that Rogers took this opportunity to ask the broadcaster to provide a HD feed of CNBC.   Is that possible, Rogers?

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@JamesLeung wrote:

With carriage negotiations out of the way,  I was hoping that Rogers took this opportunity to ask the broadcaster to provide a HD feed of CNBC.   Is that possible, Rogers?

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CNBC is an HD channel on Ignite TV.

As for Digital TV, the bigger question is: how much longer will it be before that service gets shut down?

[JamesLeung]

Ok,  Ignite TV subs got HD, but on it's SD on NextBox. 😞

[Square]

Well on Ignite, you get NO Dolby Digital 5.1 on the Recordings, but you DO get it on Digital TV.  Ha Ha, now isn't that backwards!!