Increase to skinny basic rates not popular with public, CRTC hears

An application by four companies to hike the price of basic television service from $25 to $28, with a corresponding increase tied to inflation, has been met with howls of outrage from the public. Monday was the deadline for a CRTC consultation regarding the application filed by BCE Inc., Bragg Communications Inc.. Cogeco Communications Inc. and Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. earlier this year. Quebecor Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc. and Telus Corp. have been made parties to the proceedings. The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) teamed up with the National Pensioners Federation to “strongly oppose” the price hike. PIAC’s work led to an extension of the deadline for filing interventions. “We also sense no urgency in reviewing this matter at this time, given that no public evidence is disclosed to indicate any specific financial hardship being suffered by the applicants to justify the requested increase and inflationary adjustments,” the groups wrote Nov. 28. The Independent Broadcast Group said no filings were made in the open which listed how much it costs the broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) to provide service. While costs could have increased and may continue to do so, there is no evidence on the record to support that assumption, it added. The Consumer Association of Saskatchewan said switching providers may not be an option for areas like the prairie province where competition is limited. “Online streaming may be an option in some communities but in many locations in Saskatchewan, internet service is not reliable. The cost of having internet service is often more than the cost of cable,” the association noted. Former commission vice-chair Peter Menzies filed an intervention opposing the increase. He has asked to appear at the public hearing into the application. “It flies in the face of the principle of ‘skinny basic.’ The commission should consider alternatives such as permitting an increase of something more moderate–say five per cent–or permitting the BDUs to make skinny basic ‘skinnier’,” he wrote. Equally upset was Gregory Austen, a television editor with Bell Media, who was one of hundreds of people who filed an intervention. “I can tell you personally that Bell as a company is very opposed to giving wage increases to it’s (sic) workers based on inflation, so I don’t see why they should be passing on costs to their consumers based on inflation,” he wrote. “Also, inflation, while high, is not at 12 per cent.” Others in opposition to the increase are the Government of Quebec, Aytononline Ltd., and Anthem Sports and Entertainment. Those filing in favour of the jump in price included SaskTel and Rogers. “SaskTel will take this opportunity to reiterate that the CRTC imposed the regulated small basic service over six years ago and there has been no price increase since then despite service providers' increasing costs,” the prairie telecom wrote. “The CRTC has received evidence of those cost increases.” Backing the large players were Access Communications Co-operative Ltd., Pelmorex Weather Networks Inc., the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance and Corus Entertainment Inc. “In our view, establishing a regulated rate for the basic service without including a mechanism to adjust annually for inflation and to regularly review the appropriateness of the price cap amount were flaws in the initial decision that should be rectified,” Access wrote in its submission. –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca.

Increase to skinny basic rates not popular with public, CRTC hears

News | December 13, 2022

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Increase to skinny basic rates not popular with public, CRTC hears

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