It’s not related to thornier issues like pick-and-pay or simultaneous substitution, but the CRTC today released its first decision pertaining to September’s “Let’s Talk TV” hearings.
The federal regulator has announced that beginning in 2015, consumers will no longer be required to give 30 days notice when switching to a different television service provider.
“Many Canadians have expressed frustration with these policies in their complaints to the Commission for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS),” said the CRTC. It noted that 30-cancellation policies were a “common complaint” about telecommunications services in the past three years.
The policy means that some consumers end up paying two companies for the same service during the transition period. “In a dynamic marketplace, it should be easy for Canadians to switch providers given that service plans and offers are constantly changing,” said the regulator.
The CRTC said it expects TV service providers to end this practice by Jan. 23, while it makes the required changes to its regulations. Consumer groups and individual Canadians all indicated they would like to see the advance notice abolished during the “Let’s Talk TV” hearings, said the CRTC in a release.
The CRTC also announced that it would prohibit internet and telephone service providers from requiring Canadians to give prior notice when cancelling service.
A public survey by Harris/Decima introduced during the “Let’s Talk TV” proceedings showed that only 54% of respondents were satisfied with the flexibility they had to modify or cancel their cable services.
And in a September Broadcasting Notice of Consultation, the CRTC said it received 124 complaints in 2013 from cable and satellite subscribers indicating that they were not aware they had to give 30 days’ notice to their service provider when cancelling their account, meaning they had to pay an extra month’s subscription to their current provider after already switching to a new provider.
Previously, the CRTC had eliminated similar policies for the wireless industry with the December 2013 implementation of the Wireless Code.
