Recordings will now expire after 60 days

[Alcott]

If I have recordings older than 365 days, (or more than 320 hours), will they all suddenly disappear?

This is a drastic change that most people probably don’t know about. 
TV isn’t essential of course, but I still have some old stuff I’d like to watch.

[SENIORS THAT ARE RETIRED]

WE ARE SENIORS AND OUR ENTERTAINMENT IS OUR TV 

WHY WOULD BELL DENY US THIS BY CANCELING OUR PROGRAMS AFTER 60 DAYS. WE PAY FOR OUR PROGRAMS BELL SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO DO THIS. MAYBE IT'S TO BAD THAT A GOVERNMENT AGENCY NEEDS TO GET INVOLVED TO TELL THEM THAT THEY CANNOT DO THIS TO THEIR CUSTOMERS. 

[Gmarmy]

For the first time ever, I actually thought that I need to get in touch with the government about these telecommunication companies that don't hold up their end of our contracts.  So sick of this, Bell just doesn't care about anything other than their profits

[PoorHomePhoneService]

Yes, one of the documentaries that you're deleting is available On Demand - I can rent it for 2 days for $4.99 (plus tax, of course).  Nobody cares about the "all supported devices".

[PhilU]

Can you help me in obtaining an older model PVR that won't be affected by this change.  I've been trying to get in touch with support on the phone - been put on hold for hours, had calls transferred around to others and in the end obtained no help with my concern.  I've asked for a call back, still waiting days later.  I'm would like to be able to save my recordings for over 60 days ...  

[PoorHomePhoneService]

It actually allowed you to choose between one year or as long as you had space on you PVR.  This is an action that is simply not necessary but is being done to save money - for Bell, not for us.

[PoorHomePhoneService]

Wouldn't it be nice to just be able to turn on your TV instead of firing up another device ?  I agree, it should make no difference how old your recording is.  My PVR usage is only around 15%, but even that's too much.

[Gmarmy]

Rogers has just reduced theirs from 12 months to 6 months.   I think I am more disgusted by the short notice that they gave.  I decided to record all 13 seasons of Blue Bloods in January.  That’s well over 225 shows.  I still have almost 80 left to watch.  Had they had the common courtesy to either reduce it to 6 months or give us a minimum of 6 months to watch old shows I wouldn’t be so mad.   But of course they didn’t.   I only found out about it because my brother was complaining about the Roger’s reduction so I did some googling.   My bills are on pre authorized payments so if the $ don’t change why would I look at it.   They told me they sent emails out, like I believe that.   Just so disgusted with their profits first  and screw the customers attitude.

[brannenba]

Bell is rankling its TV customers – and making international headlines in the process – with news that it is decreasing cloud PVR storage time to 61 days from 365. Bell will start deleting recordings that surpass the new time frame starting on May 1, according to notifications sent to subscribers. Customers are filling up online forums, according to U.S. site Ars Technica, with complaints about how Bell at first pushed them toward cloud-based recording only to now cut back on it. (I copied this from Tech Savvy Buzz.  Interesting newsletter on Canadian Media.)

[DJ_Groovin]

This is so ridiculous.  20 months ago when I signed up foe my services, I was tricked into taking the stupid cloud based pvr over the hdd based unit.  The sales person and the technician literally had an argument on the phone because I had called them to follow up as she pushed really hard for me.to take the cloud based option.  I was told this is the future, the old units will be deactivated and won't more anymore soon, that this is just the roll out and the recording time and days you can keep stuff will continue to grow and become unlimited as long as you are within your storage quota.  My bill has been increased 4 times since, 5 bucks every time...my service has not gotten better, it's gotten way worse, especially now that the jokes punchline was revealed that the cloud based pvr was a scam all along...my own hdd means I control.when things expire, I'm not told when they do.  I have paid for this sham and along with everyone else deserve justified compensation. Im going to lose all kinds of recordings, including my nephews ohl games... 

[BellDRock · Accepted solution]

Hello everyone, thank you all for sharing your feedback. To clarify, the Cloud PVR retention time change only applies to customers with the 7802 set top box (below)

If you have any other Bell PVR box, your recordings storage remain unchanged. For the Fibe TV app specifically, recording retention on the app has remained unchanged at 60 days and is unrelated to the set top box you have.

[D King]

So is this fraud on Bell's part or just breach of contract?  When I paid for my Fibe TV in, let's say, December 2023, it was on the understanding that anything I recorded in December 2023 would be available to me for one year.  Now Bell is unilaterally changing that, after, of course, I already paid.  I understand if Bell wants to say "Going forward you can only keep recordings for 60 days", but instead Bell is saying "I know we told you that you could keep them for a year and that was part of the contract we had, you paid us based on that understanding, but now we're going to delete them".  I guess it's time to contact the CRTC.  Too bad Bell can't be a good corporate citizen, but I guess that's just too much to expect.

[DJ_Groovin]

We are running a 7802 and never wanted it from the get go...we were promised it was the latest and greatest and that the old hdd based units would be taken out of service and replaces within the next year or two.  Was also told that the limits of 1 year and 320 hours were just for roll out and would be extended to be unlimited time as long as we were within our storage quota.  Imagine the shock when this was scaled back...

The technician and the sales rep.were arguing about it because the technician didn't even want to install the 7802 and had claimed he never had done it snd didn't have one.  He had to.leave to.go.meet another installer to get one from him.

This is clearly not the future anymore and everyone affected needs to be compensated fairly....

Ccts? Mpp involvement? This is big and most certainly done in poor faith from bell... calling in people are being told they can't even downgrade their boxes anymore even though some claim.they got it...

[PhilU]

Hello Mr BellDRock, I have the 7802 box.  I didn't have a choice when agreeing to your PVR Service and was given a 1 year limit when signing up.  I would now like to change to a different Hard Drive type PVR so I'm not limited to the retention period?  Please let us all know, here on this forum, who now has the 7802 box, how this can easily be changed over.  I haven't been given an option at this time.  Still waiting for a call back from tech support.

[DJ_Groovin]

PhilU is onenof.many of us with the same.prediciment of Bell acting in poor faith...

[Sia1]

Hello Bell,

My question is, then, are you going to charge people $10 for cloud PVR?!?!? To keep the recording for only 60 days?!?!? I can get 2TB of cloud storage with backup and protection support at the same price. Why should I pay $10 to Bell for cloud PVR for 60 days? Is this a joke?!?!? Or are you trying to tell people you have a monopoly and you can do what you want? 

I suggest everyone here simply cancel their service and subscribe to other online services. Fortunately, now we can subscribe to cheap services in states like Y-O-U T-U-B-E TV or F-U-B-O TV with a reasonable price, considering the horrible conversion rate of Canadian $!