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When it comes to the threat of cord cutting and cannibalization, the analyst cited several reasons why investors shouldn’t be worried. A big factor is naturally price.

Fan noted that real sports fans willing to shell out $25 for Sportsnet Now, also probably want to watch channels like TSN. But it’s not offered over the top, which reduces the likelihood of them cancelling their cable.

The analyst does expect BCE Inc.’s TSN will follow with a streaming option of its own, but noted that since it has a higher household penetration rate than Sportsnet, it may take longer to find it beneficial to offer TSN as a standalone service.

“The key for distributors (cable and telcos) is to ensure that they have pricing flexibility on Internet to monetize the usage to maintain the return on their network assets,” he said.

As more channels are essentially offered a la carte via the Internet, they will no longer be protected by being bundled in large channel packages, and therefore must be able to support themselves. That’s where the threat to traditional TV broadcasting revenues comes in.

Fan believes Rogers is making changes like this because of its broadband-driven strategy.

He noted that as more content goes over the top, broadband capacity in the home becomes a bigger differentiator between providers. The analyst also noted that Rogers continues to have an advantage with cable broadband, and because BCE still has not covered enough of its footprint with fibre to the home.

“It is another piece of evidence to suggest that Rogers is pushing back on BCE harder with an Internet-driven strategy that counters Bell’s TV-driven strategy,” the analyst added.