TV Seen By No One

The image to the left was posted on the Canada West Instagram account yesterday as they appear to be advertising a new collaboration with Telus in broadcasting a Canada West "Game of the Week" on Telus' Optik TV service. I've long been critical of Canada West's subscription-based TV service that limits who can watch when compared to that of the OUA or the AUS, so this partnership, on the surface, would represent a big step forward in getting more eyes on Canada West athletes and sports. More eyes can bring more sponsors, and sponsors can bring more money to help offset costs and drive revenue for Canada West. The catch, though, is that people have to be able to see sports and athletes to find value, and that's where this partnership becomes a head-scratcher.

Having worked in the telecommunications field at one point in my life, western Canada has a number of television service providers that offer different packages and products based on what one wants. Shaw Cable, Bell, Rogers, Quebecor are your top-four television providers by market share year after year, and, while they will occasionally move up or down within that block of four providers, there's never been another participant in the top-four rankings simply due to viewership numbers.

Telus' 2022 first-quarter operational and financial report makes it very clear why this is as they reported that their "TV subscriber base increased by 4.0 per cent to approximately 1.3 million customers". In a country of 39.2 million people, having your TV service in 3.3% of homes doesn't make a dent in the numbers when compared to the "Big Four" mentioned in the above paragraph.

Part of this small market share percentage is due to the fact that Telus Optik TV is an IPTV service - that is, you need a digital box to receive its signal to watch TV. If you're in the increasing number of people who have decided to "cut the cord" on cable TV, this automatically excludes you from Telus Optik TV and its streaming option. That's not to say that those people won't eventually return to changing channels at some point, but it would appear that the trend shown by the Canadian government in the image from their 2021 Communications Monitoring Report shows that people are cutting the cord more than they are signing up for TV services.

The other problem with that 3.3% Canadian market share is that Telus Optik TV does itself no favours by making it available in only British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec. As may you may be aware, the Canada West conference extends from British Columbia to Manitoba with players coming from all parts of Canada to play for the schools in the four westernmost provinces. By hitching their wagon to Telus, Canada West has told fans in Saskatchewan and Manitoba that their options for seeing the "Game of the Week" are nil, and the rest of the country who may somewhat of an interest also falls into that "no chance" category.

You might say, "Hold on a second, Teebz, because there are 18.7 million people in those three provinces", but I'd point you to the math again because 1.3 million subscribers in 18.7 million people is still only 7.0% of people who may have access to Telus Optik TV or its streaming services in Canada. No matter how you cut it, the optics of the reach of Optik TV simply isn't good, so I am baffled why Canada West would want this deal with 96.7% of Canada and 93.0% of people within Telus' markets unable to watch this "Game of the Week" idea.

Even if we take the government's 2022 number of 9.56 million TV subscribers, Telus' 1.3 million subscribers are just 13.6% of the total TV subscriptions in Canada. While there might be a number of people who live in a household with a Telus Optik TV subscription, I would be quick to point out that we're still only talking about three provinces where this service is available. Growing that number will only happen by tenths or hundredths of a percentage point annually unless Telus can figure out how to get its service into other provinces.

Just for fun, I also took a peek at the schedule for the Canada West "Game of the Week" on Telus, and it shouldn't surprise you that every "Game of the Week" in every sport features a British Columbia-based or Alberta-based school except one - men's basketball on February 3 features a game between the Winnipeg Wesmen and Manitoba Bisons that absolutely zero people from Manitoba will be able to watch. Ratings should be extremely high for that night's game.

Sarcasm aside, catering to two Western Canadian provinces and a province where Canada West games are merely white noise seems very exclusionary by Canada West. I don't know what the end goal is in this experiment, but if they're trying to put eyes on Canada West athletes and sports they're still doing virtually nothing to make that happen. And if no one can watch the games, there's also no incentive for sponsors to jump onboard so this just makes no sense whatsoever in the big picture.

What should bother people from British Columbia and Alberta the most is that they paid for a Canada West TV subscription, and now one of the games they paid for is being given away from free to the general public (assuming one has Telus Optik TV). I'll be honest in saying that I don't have the overlap in what the Optik TV subscriptions are with people who subscribe to Canada West TV, but my guess is there are a few within that 1.3 million Telus Optik TV subscriptions. What does it feel like to pay for something everyone else gets for free? I'm sure a few people won't be happy.

Beyond that, there's also a significant problem with the set of games chosen in that two schools - Lethbridge and MacEwan - aren't even featured as a "Game of the Week" in any sport. All seven BC-based schools get, at minimum, two games in the "Game of the Week" schedule while the three Alberta schools who are featured - Alberta, Calgary, and Mount Royal - are featured in no less than seven of the "Game of the Week" games! Not only did Canada West and Telus cut out two full provinces of support for this, but they also cut two schools out when it comes to having those fans tune into games as well. This might be the most "all your eggs in one basket" idea I've ever seen!

Overall, when 96.7% of the country can't see these athletes and sports on TV, there's little hope in growing Canada West's viewership bigger than what it currently is. I understand the metaphor that one has to crawl before one can walk, but cutting off 97% of country - including two provinces in which you operate - from watching how good these athletes are and how competitive these sports are might be one of the dumbest things I've seen or heard in a long time.

Thre are 12.6 million people in the four western Canadian provinces, and, at most, only 10.3% of them have Optik TV as Quebec's subscription rate to Telus' Optik TV is quite low. Completely ignoring two of the four provinces along with two more schools in Alberta in which Canada West operates are puzzling decisions at best, so Canada West is really pinning its broadcasting hopes on British Columbia and most of Alberta who hold, at most, 13% of the Canadian population that subscribes to Telus Optik TV.

University sports in Canada are, by definition, amateur sports, but there's no reason for those who are responsible for ensuring the strength and long-term viability of amateur sports to make amateur decisions. The decision to partner with Telus Optik TV was puzzling from the moment it was announced, but, as seen when we dig into the numbers, it's downright baffling considering everything mentioned above.

If Canada West is looking for a new slogan for it's Optik TV venture, they're welcome to use the title of this article because, when all is said and done, I suspect this will be TV seen by no one.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!