THE SUBSCRIPTION TELEVISION industry likes to say that outright cord-cutting (defined as when a consumer abandons a TV subscription altogether) is still a pretty small phenomenon.
So far, overall, that remains technically true. The latest numbers show about two percent of Canadian households with a TV subscription have chosen to cut the cord and stop subscribing to traditional TV. Generally, it’s been a story of “flat is the new up”, while inside of the likes of Rogers, Shaw, Cogeco, Bell and others, hardworking employees are doing their best to swallow hard every day and manage substantial…
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OTTAWA – A consumer group says that the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) “will have its hands full” come September when it adds TV service provider watchdog to its role.
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) noted that Canadians made 2,734 complaints about their television services to the CCTS over the last six months, more than it received in relation to wireless, Internet, local voice, or long-distance voice services. And that’s months before it can officially accept TV consumer complaints.
“With Canada’s communications regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) reporting that it received 8,584 complaints about…
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OTTAWA – While complaints over telecom and Internet services continue to fall, Canadians are still unclear about the terms of their service contracts, says the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS).
In its mid-year report released Thursday, CCTS said it accepted 3,955 complaints between August 1, 2016 and January 31, 2017, down by more than 600 from the 4,562 complaints received in the same period a year earlier.
The report says that non-disclosure or misleading information about contract terms was once again the most commonly raised issue (10.7% of all issues), followed by complaints about incorrect charges at 9.4% and…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – All wireless service providers must join Canada’s National Public Alerting System by next April, the CRTC said Thursday.
Emergency alert messages are issued by federal, provincial and territorial governments and emergency management officials to warn the public of imminent threats, such as fires, tornadoes, floods, water contamination and Amber Alerts.
Once the system is in place, wireless public alerting will allow emergency management officials to send alerts to mobile devices connected to LTE networks, which the CRTC said are now available to over 97% of Canadians. Once an alert has been distributed, Canadians will hear the same alert…
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File CRTC application to review and vary Basic Service Objective decision
GATINEAU – Three consumer groups filed an application with the CRTC asking it to review and vary its much ballyhooed basic service objective decision – one which make access to broadband a fundamental part of telecom service to Canadians.
ACORN Canada, the National Pensioners Federation, and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre say the Commission must alter Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2016-496, Modern telecommunications services – The path forward for Canada’s digital economy because the new policy does not establish an affordability funding mechanism for low-income telecommunications users.
The filing says the…
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WASHINGTON – Each year the U.S. government puts together a massive document called the National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers and its most recent one, published in March, takes particular aim at one new CRTC rule.
The 2017 report, which can be found here (the section on Canada starts on page 65) outlines all the ways there are barriers for Americans to trade and invest in countries around the world.
The section on Canada references many things, including our telecom and broadcasting protections (something we believe will be seriously analyzed when the…
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FIRE UP THE LOBBYISTS, lawyers and regulatory experts, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has opened up a once-in-a-generation chance to change everything about the cable, radio, television and telecom (CaRTT) business in Canada.
You think the new “Let’s Talk TV” rules are challenging, or the new Basic Service Objectives might hurt or Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly’s Cancon review was perplexing? Wait until the feds begin the overhaul of the Broadcasting Act (last updated in 1991) and Telecommunications Act (1993) later this year – as the 2017 Budget said is going to happen. Everyone with skin in…
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Perhaps co-operation is the key
GATINEAU – Arguments that the British Columbia market isn’t big enough to support two distinct radio broadcasters don’t hold water, according to First Peoples Radio.
Debra McLaughlin of Strategic Inc., a firm that did work for FPR on its application, noted under questioning during the company’s reply to the CRTC’s Aboriginal radio licence hearing on Wednesday, the last day of the proceeding, that advertisers, in fact, are likely to spend more money in the smaller markets than the big cities. (Cartt.ca covered the first two days of the hearing here and Continue Reading
GATINEAU – The CRTC’s first chief consumer officer, Barbara Motzney, is leaving the CRTC.
She has been appointed assistant deputy minister, policy and strategic direction, Western Economic Diversification Canada and will start her new appointment on April 18, said a recent memo recently circulated to CRTC staff by chairman Jean-Pierre Blais.
“Barbara was the CRTC’s very first chief consumer officer, a function that she has performed with great success since October 2012,” said Blais in his memo. “I, as well as the entire organization, will miss her important strategic contribution and her innovative spirit. That said, I am convinced that her…
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And, applicants publicly scrutinize each other
GATINEAU – Northern Native Broadcasting told the CRTC on day two of the Aboriginal radio station hearing Tuesday that Indigenous peoples in British Columbia would be best served by a single radio broadcaster covering the entire province.
Just as Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta have, in effect, regional systems to serve their First Nations communities, British Columbia should have the same, the company added. NNB, which has a radio station in Terrace, in the northern part of the province, noted that having two separate radio broadcasters would negatively affect the economic viability of both operations.
Ron Bartlett,…
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