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“The rising cost of service has put pressure on consumers,” Pamela Dinsmore, vice-president of regulatory affairs said. “We recognize that more can be done.”

The Toronto-based company, the country’s No. 2 provider with 2.3 million customers moved last fall to sell a pared back pick-and-pay package in a temporary trial in London, Ont. Analysts say the move is as much about retaining subscribers as its is about offering choice.

The “London Trial” is similar to the packages that pervade the Quebec market, where Quebecor’s Montreal cable operator Videotron has maintained market share against an insurgent Bell through pick-and-pay options, even if it has been at the expense of a lower average revenue profile among its subscribers compared to Rogers. Bell is planning to expand a new television service further into Rogers’ footprint in the quarters to come.

But more importantly, Rogers — like the other providers — doesn’t need a CRTC directive to recognize the traditional TV market is saturated, new alternatives to acquire content online are emerging and innovation is required to maintain its business. While the London Trial, as the company has come to call it, saw some participants reduce service, it was offset by new customer additions from people who hadn’t taken service before but were enticed by a barebones a la carte product (which can be upsold later).

“A number of people we brought in were net new, they hadn’t subscribed to cable or satellite historically. That’s an indication this was positive for Rogers, and I would say the Canadian broadcasting system,” David Purdy, chief of video products, said.

Much of the details from the trial were redacted in Rogers’ public submission, and there is skepticism that more growth can be squeezed from market where more than nine in ten homes are already paying customers.

Nonetheless, with the old TV model likely at its peak, analysts are near unanimous that change must be met with innovation. “We believe those distributors that offer the greatest value and choice will be best positioned to defend their subscribers and [revenue],” Credit Suisse analyst Colin Moore said in a note last month.