GATINEAU – The CRTC is calling Bell, Rogers, Shaw and Videotron to a public hearing in September to review the rollout of their skinny basic TV packages and implementation of pick-and-pay.
The Commission said Tuesday that as part of the process to renew their licences, it wants to ensure TV service providers are offering the new channel packaging choices to Canadians “in a manner that is consistent with its regulations and the spirit of its policy”. It added that less than 100,000 Canadians have signed up for the new basic TV package since it debuted March 1st, up from 66,000 subscribers in mid-April.
“The new basic package and new flexible packaging options were introduced to give Canadians the ability to tailor their television services to their needs”, said CRTC chairman and CEO Jean-Pierre Blais, in a statement. “Concerns have been raised, however, about how some television service providers have been implementing these new options. As we prepare for the full implementation of pick-and-pay, we will have an opportunity at the public hearing to verify whether their actions are in keeping with our objective.”
The CRTC also administratively renewed the licences of select TV providers whose licences were expiring September 1st until November 30, 2016, in order to have sufficient time to hold this hearing. The Commission added that it intends to impose conditions of licence relating to the Wholesale Code and the Television Service Provider Code through this process. Both codes come into force in 2017.
The hearing will kick off September 7, and the CRTC said that it will accept interventions filed before June 23. The deadline for the filing of replies is July 4, 2016, though only parties that file interventions may file a reply to matters raised during the intervention phase.
As part of its Let's Talk TV policy review, the CRTC ordered all licensed television service providers to offer a basic package (a.k.a skinny basic) costing no more than $25 per month, not including equipment. In addition, channels must also be offered either individually on a pick and pay basis or in small bundles of up to 10 starting December 1, 2016.
