CRTC Decisions

[deja vu]

Canadians no longer have to give a 30-day notice to cancel or change their television, internet or landline telephone service, the CRTC says. In a release, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission said it is "prohibiting television service providers from requiring that Canadians give 30 days' notice prior to cancelling these services."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/crtc-ba ... -1.2826054

t's the first decision to come out of the regulator's Let's Talk TV hearings, which was considering whether to allow some major changes to the way television is delivered to Canadians.

The CRTC says it will require cable companies to adhere to the new rule by Jan. 23. The regulator also says the same rule will apply to switching internet providers or phone services.

The CRTC previously implemented a similar rule for cellphone contracts when it rolled out Canada's wireless code last December.

Not that far off and sure most can wait until it goes into effect. PROGRESS when most think the CRTC hates consumers and now they are on the consumers side, or at least partly. Being fully onside will depend on their future rulings from the Talk TV Hearings. I'm hoping the big companies haven't swayed them in the rest of their decisions, because all that came out of the hearings was a lot of fear mongering and threats from the companies. I just wonder if the companies will find other ways to stick it to us with this and future decisions, because they will lose millions with this one.

[CielOnTap]

Would this mean if a telephone customer wanted to port or to carry his or her number from one provider and take it to another provider, there won't be a delay of several days to make the switch? I have heard of such stories.

Anticipate that some fee will likely pop up to make up for the missing 30-day notice period. Is there a suggestion of how long it should take to make changes between providers-within 24h or one business day or...?

[pysanky]

January popular month for service changes and charges. Like Friday afternoon-good time to put bad news out to public that has attention somewhere else. (What about postage rates, another January regular?)

[fishandchips]

The payphone-not a hot commodity as before but still crucial for the cellphone-less residents of Canada and a landline for rural phones. The CRTC wants the public to weigh in how the last payphone in an area is to let go of providing phone service when the phone goes bye-bye.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/02/26/tell-the-crtc-if-when-you-want-the-last-payphone-to-go.html

Not sure that many Canadians know about the policy about how the last payphone in an area goes away-what if a payphone has not been working for a long time and residents want it back in service?

[deja vu]

Finally they are truly listening to the consumers and what we want.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/crtc-ea ... -1.2992132

The CRTC has unveiled a dramatic overhaul of its old protectionist rules for television programming, including the relaxation of its long-standing rules that require TV broadcasters to carry a certain quota of Canadian-produced content.

The national broadcast regulator said Thursday it was cutting the quota for the ratio of Canadian programs that local TV stations must broadcast during the day from 55 per cent to zero. That's a recognition that stations have sometimes been broadcasting the same program episodes many times over the course of a day, or even over years, simply to satisfy the old Cancon rule.

That Canadian content rule was ridiculous. Same show on at least 10 different channels on the same day, day after day. The fear mongering by the companies failed, they don't scare anyone anymore. Can't wait for the unbundling decision to come down.

The CRTC will also require that video-on-demand services like CraveTV and Shomi must make their exclusive content available to all Canadians over the internet.

"This means that Canadians would not need to have a cable or satellite subscription in order to access these services," according to a commission backgrounder.

Good idea, but Crave and Shomi are experiencing growing pains and not many seem to be happy with them right now.

There was no mention in Blais's remarks of a so-called "Netflix tax." Some broadcasters have been calling on the U.S-based streaming service to help fund the creation of Canadian programming, as domestic broadcasters are. A CRTC spokeswoman later confirmed to CBC News that a Netflix tax is not in the cards — now or in the future.

Another good decision, but their Canadian version falls short of the US version. The US offers a lot more shows/movies than what is currently showing in Canada. That will need to change.

[CielOnTap]

There's only so many episodes of the Littlest Hobo or Road to Avonlea that one should have to watch as Canadian content on Canadian channels. I do miss some of the Canadian films that came out of the 80s and 90s because there was some budget set aside to help Canadian filmmakers produce documentaries and films to help Canadians know their history/stories.

[dreamon]

deja vu - Can't wait for the unbundling decision to come down.

The decision is supposed to come down next week and with any luck it will not be one that drags out for a few months. Customers want it to be immediate and then there would a run on dumping all of those unwanted channels we all hate. Pay so much, but to get your favorites you have to take the ones most don't want.

[CielOnTap]

The CRTC started talking to Canadians in the fall of 2013 about what they want out of television/cable options. In April 2014, the CRTC had this publication posted: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/publications/reports/rp140424e.htm

Beginning on 20 May 2014, the Commission will also be requiring that cable and satellite operators place Canadian national news specialty services in the best available discretionary package consistent with their genre and programming (if these operators distribute these services as part of a discretionary package).Footnote 12 These services will also be available on a stand-alone basis.

The Commission’s current packaging rules were designed to:

support the economic model for Canadian programming services;
provide consumers with the choice to receive or not receive certain types of controversial programming, such as single point-of-view religious programming or adult programming;
favour local content, such as local television programming; and
ensure that the basic service provides a minimum public service offering through the broad offering of 9(1)(h) services.

Nevertheless, the communications marketplace has changed, and the Commission needs to reassess its current packaging rules.

The anticipated release list for this week does show the Broadcasting Regulatory Policy (Let's Talk TV). Still waiting...

[deja vu]

Yes, finally. Consumers have taken back control of their TV and what they want to watch. Only issue is it will take up to 1 1/2 years to complete, all depends how much the companies want to drag their heels on this decision.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/crtc-ru ... -1.3001370

The cable package is capped at $25 a month and will consist of local stations and mandatory channels, such as APTN, TVO, CPAC, educational channels and accessibility channels, with the option to include up to four American "affiliate" channels (NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox) plus PBS.

Subscribers would then be able to choose the channels they want to add and either pay for them individually or create their own bundles, the so-called "pick a pack" or "pick-and-pay" option.

"Today's decision is not about making choices for Canadians. Rather, it is about setting out a roadmap to give all Canadians the freedom to choose the television content that meets their unique needs, budgets, and realities – which can even include free, over-the-air television stations," CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais said in a news release.

Consumers will have the option of keeping the cable packages they already have.

[mousepad]

March 1st can not come fast enough for the majority of Canadians. Doesn't matter if you bundle your phone/cable/internet or pay separately, it has been costly for all.

The big question is will the Cable companies play fair or pull a fast one, and that is the option most expect from them. They could lose millions and a lot of customers if they do something stupid. They fought hard to avoid change so no one will really know until the companies put their plans out to the media.

Cable and satellite television providers have to change their bills to make them easier for customers to understand, Canada's broadcast regulator says. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said Thursday that new rules, which are set to be implemented, will change the way television service providers bill their customers. A draft version of the CRTC's Television Service Provider Code of Conduct came out last March and was made official on Thursday, although it won't be enforced until September 2017.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/crtc-ca ... -1.3393768