We don’t know what it is about AMC, exactly, but once again they’re playing hardball with a Canadian TV distributor, and it’s at the point where the distributor has announced it is cutting the channel off.
This time it’s Videotron. Again.
In 2018, five years after it finally added the channel to its lineup, Videotron announced it was cutting AMC, the American channel once famous for shows like Mad Men and The Walking Dead. It said it couldn’t come to a carriage agreement with the channel that was reasonable, and so had no choice but to cut it off, even if it was still popular with some of its subscribers.
But with days to go before the cutoff, Videotron announced it had reached a deal with AMC to keep it on. Details were still not disclosed, but Videotron hinted that AMC had accepted a deal that was more reflective of Videotron’s position as a primarily French-language distributor, whose clients would be less interested in AMC than Rogers’s or Bell’s, for example.
And yet, the story went a similar way with Rogers and Bell last year. In November 2019, Rogers announced it was cutting AMC as of Jan. 1, only to save it with a last-minute deal. Bell followed each step a month later.
So you can understand the raised eyebrow at seeing that Videotron is once again telling subscribers it will drop AMC as of Feb. 11.
Like before, it says it has made the decision because of “unrealistic requests from AMC, which would have resulted in an unreasonable increase for our customers.”
We don’t know exactly what those requests are, but they could be things like minimum penetration guarantees or penetration-based rates, where Videotron’s wholesale fee is only reasonable if a large percentage of its subscribers subscribe to AMC.
Either way, we have just under two months for one of them to blink before Videotron’s customers lose access to their Breaking Bad and Walking Dead spinoff shows.
Is there another petition?
While there isn’t a whole lot of new content these days on AMC that interests me as a Videotron subscriber, I was looking forward to seeing the final season of Better Call Saul, which was only getting better year after year, and will hopefully tie the loose ends that leads into Breaking Bad.
“Funny” how two days before we had received an Email from Videotron stating their services (Internet / Cable) would get rate increases for a total of $4.50 starting in the new year…… and then you announce we’ll get even less for that money? Ridiculous! Yes it’s AMC’s bargaining I know, but it’s insulting nonetheless…
If your package includes AMC, Videotron should replace it with something else. And if you add it à la carte, you’ll probably pay less without the channel.
Exactly. We kept being increase $$ but channels are dropping. If the finally drop AMC, they better reduce my monthly billing cause we pay to get that channel.
Then they wonder why people download there shows through torrent sites
For those big companies who dont get it its cause your to damn greedy!!!!
that is exactly what i ll have to do… Download my show illegally so i can watch the last season And because Amc doest try to have a reasonable agreement with my tv providers. i won t be buying the last copy neither. In fact i won t be buying anything anymore from amc. Been a fan since the beginning .Never miss a show.. Very Sad.
Again? I pay extra for these channels so WTF?
You won’t be paying extra for them when they’re no longer in your package.
So is there anything we can do? Is there any chance a deal will be reached like they did last time?
Talk to Videotron and AMC and pressure them to come to a deal. You could tell Videotron you’re willing to switch providers over this, and you could tell AMC you won’t.
Time to start a petition. This channel is an important addition to english channel viewers.
I as well am upset that we are loosing AMC I love this channel. I will miss TWD/FTWD and other new shows that are about to start. I will sign a petition. How do we pressure the right people?
I called videotron on January 18 th 2021 and AMC is still cancelled. So I mentioned that I will cancel my subscription which is without any penalities according to the letter I got. Well sure but the customer service guy mentions you must pay for the rest of the renting of the Helix hardware which is for two years and it cost 350 $. So we get screwed no matter what.
hi
very upset removing amc, since 1982 im with videotron cant you do something!!!!!
Hello, Any update on this or is it still being pulled on Feb 11th? I remember last time this happened a few years ago, they came to an agreement at the last minute and it was saved. I was wondering if they were still negotiating!
Just called Videotron to see what’s happening. I was told that the channel will be replaced by something similar. However, less than two days before the channel is gone, they have no clue what they will replace it with. Is anyone surprised?
I’ll be dropping Videotron, I’ve had enough of getting gouged by this bigoted company, this was the final straw for me.
we can not really fault Videotron if AMC is at fault, as long as Videotron either gives us another channel or reduces our monthly cost. Went throught the same thing with Rogers when I used to live in Ontario. Rogers had Lonestar which was strictly western with all the old great western series that I grew up with as a kid. After about 5 years Roger had to drop it as Lonestar started to make crazy demands. So they replaced it, could not find another western station but came up with a oldies station to replace
Hate videotron but had no options until just recently as Rogers doesn’t operate cable in Quebec and Bell Fibe was not available in my area. Meanwhile their demand offerings are virtually non existent, station apps like FX Now, City TV and more don’t provide access to videotron customers. And now they drop AMC! The good news is that a month ago Fibe arrived – bye bye Videotron – I won’t miss you!
I switch from Videotron to Bell to keep AMC. I’ve nothing but trouble since. Nothing works smoothly. I spend more time with Bell support in two months than I did in 20 years with Videotron. I choose Bell over other smaller provider for the reliability. It’s not going well…
I agree with all previous comments, and am very upset Vidéotron has dropped AMC at the cost of its subscribers. Canadians rank one of the highest in the world for fees charged by our cell phone, computer & cable contracts. Notwithstanding contractual obligations to its customers, Vidéotron chooses to hike prices while offering less substantive content unless we engage in further “packages” which end up costing a fortune. Yes, we must come together to seriously object to being used for more $$profit to the company. If they can get away with this, they will continue to gouge.