Campaign by Bell, Rogers and Telus sparking some backlash

By Mark Gollom, CBC News

For several weeks now, the big three telecommunication firms — Bell, Rogers and Telus — have joined forces and waged a public relations blitz to win the hearts and minds of Canadians.

Their ‘Fair for Canada’ campaign seeks to rally the public to their side and “stand up for fair competition in Canada.” And they warn of the consequences of the federal government giving U.S.-based companies like Verizon Communications an unfair advantage to bid on valuable wireless spectrum.

But some telecom analysts question the effectiveness of the campaign, charging that their message is a tough sell to many wary consumers who have little love for their cellphone providers.

“[The telecom providers] haven’t paid attention to the fact — whether it’s reality or not — that the perception is they’re taking advantage of Canadian customers in the pocketbook and taking liberties with customer service,” said Mark Blevis, a digital public affairs analyst.

“So they haven’t built a relationship with the Canadian public. They’ve now turned to the Canadian public to come to their aid.”

Blevis did some analysis on the online response to the campaign and found that an “overwhelming number of people” have been critical of the campaign. It has given an excuse for those to complain about their providers’ service and many welcome Verizon, hoping a fourth carrier will provide lower prices.

The website and Fair for Canada slogan has been mocked. A few days after the Fair for Canada crusade kicked off, two counter-campaigns called Real Fair For Canada and Four for Canada launched. And a two-minute video showcasing the concerns of Bell, Telus and Rogers employees has been parodied and criticized.

Meanwhile, a poll by Forum Research a found that 57 per cent of Canadians support Verizon entering the Canadian market, and a majority believe its presence will lead to lower rates and better service.

“Canadians have sniffed this one out. They can tell what the big three are trying to do and it’s not going over well,” Blevis said.

“If they had inspired Canadians to protect the Canadian marketplace, that may have worked. Instead what they tried to do is get Canadians to protect them. And by all accounts, Canadians are not prepared to do that for the big three.”

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We Canadians will be digging a little deeper into our  pockets during this year’s back-to-school shopping season according to new survey

A Pollara survey, funded by the Bank of Montreal, says Canadians intend to shell out an average of $428 per child on items such as school supplies, clothing and technology as their kids head back to class.

That’s an increase of 18.2 per cent over last year, when parents planned to spend an average of $362 per child.

Of course there are always ways to save, so here’s a list of helpful hints gathered from all over the place to get that number down:

Hold off buying trendier gear like lunch boxes and pencil cases. Kids may love a version they picked up over the summer, but once they start school and see that their friends are all using another kind, they’ll beg you for an upgrade  — and you’ve just doubled your outlay.

Shop end-of-summer sales. Your kids wear short sleeve polo shirts all year long, so wait and hit the big summer sales and snap up that discounted stuff that can be worn well into fall.

Stick to The List. The school’s supply list at the start of a new school year is all you’ll need to go by. Don’t spend money on unlisted items that will probably never get used and probably will be thrown away.

Head to the grocery store for basic supplies. Check weekly circulars for great deals on pens and loose-leaf paper, and get your weekly grocery shopping done at the same time. Buying everything in one place saves time, earns you extra bonus points if you have a loyalty card (and if you don’t, you really should), and saves gas money!

Let your kids raid the home-office supplies, then personalize them in unique ways. For example, decorate inexpensive plain, white binders with digital photos by creating a collage and inserting the page into the plastic outer cover.

Plan lunch. Food costs are increasing faster than Canadian income, so you have to learn how to optimize your grocery shopping. Use the weekly flyers and make a meal plan for the upcoming week.

…and one more, for you if your kid is the type who loses everything:

Buy bright. Lost school supplies may be a given, but gear that’s hard to miss can stave off the inevitable. Pack all their pencils, erasers, and other goodies into a bright backpack or pencil pouch to keep them from disappearing.

Tomorrow we’ll post some serious #moneysavingtips for your college and university aged kids.

The Huffington Post Canada  |  By Daniel Tencer Posted: 08/14/2013 9:28 am EDT

Five of Canada’s largest cable and satellite TV providers saw a drop in subscribers in the second quarter of 2013, Ottawa-based Boon Dog Professional Services says.

The research backs growing evidence that Canadians, frustrated at high telecom bills, are ditching their TV subscriptions in ever greater numbers, opting instead for online streaming and over-the-air options.

Canada’s publicly-traded TV providers, who account for 90 per cent of the market, lost a total of 19,624 subscribers in the second quarter of 2012. That’s more than triple the rate of loss seen in the first quarter, Boon Dog reported.

Cogeco, Rogers, Shaw, Shaw Direct and Videotron all same their subscriber numbers fall, Boon Dog reported.

In the same period of last year, TV providers added some 3,600 subscribers “so there was a swing from growth to decline year-over-year,” Boon Dog co-founder Leila Goldberger said in an email.

Admittedly, these numbers are relatively small: Boon Dog says there are about 11.8 million TV subscriptions in Canada. But the consultancy says there now have been three consecutive quarters of declining subscriptions — mirroring almost exactly a trend seen in the U.S.

Boon Dog’s data back up other research over the past year that has shown cord-cutting becoming a growing phenomenon in Canada. Convergence Consulting estimated earlier this year that one in 50 Canadians has ditched their cable TV subscription, and audience measurement firm ComScore recently reported that 16 per cent of Canadians no longer watch any conventional TV, getting their video online.

And so far the trend hasn’t done much to hurt the TV providers’ bottom lines. The CRTC reported this spring that cable and satellite TV revenue jumped 4.2 per cent in the year ending in August, 2012.

However, those numbers covered a period before the cord-cutting phenomenon started turning subscriber numbers negative. And some of the revenue increase can be accounted for through higher cable TV prices.