CRTC – Schooley Mitchell

The CRTC will not take a stand against content piracy

Christine Wilson October 4, 2018

According to The Chronicle Herald, the FairPlay Canada coalition – a group of media organizations that includes Bell Canada, Rogers, the CBC, and more – was shut down by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in its effort to fight “content pirates.” On Tuesday, October 2nd the CRTC said it does not have the authority to police the activities that FairPlay Canada is fighting against. FairPlay Canada originally asked the CRTC for help back in January of 2018. The coalition wanted the CRTC to “help protect their ownership and licensing rights by setting up an independent agency to help locate

CRTC will phase out its support of local phones in hard to serve regions

Christine Wilson September 6, 2018

The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commissions spends millions of dollars each year to subsidize the cost of maintaining telephone lines . Now, the commission says it will begin phasing out that subsidy over the next couple of years to focus instead on helping hard-to-serve regions connect to broadband. According to the The Financial Post, this decision will eliminate “nearly $116 million in subsidies for local telephone service[s].” Starting January 1st, 2019, the subsidies will be phased out semi-annually. By December 31st, 2020, the subsidies will completely end for local phone service. In 2016, the CRTC made the decision to label broadband

CRTC rejects consumer complaints of aggressive telcos

Christine Wilson February 21, 2018

Ottawa-based consumer advocacy group, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), is speaking out against the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) recent refusal to hold a public inquiry into claims of aggressive and misleading sales practices by a number of the country’s leading telecoms. While the CRTC says there is no need for this inquiry, PIAC says the decision ultimately hurts Canadian consumers. “CRTC throws to telco sales dogs,” accused PIAC’s executive director, John Lawford, in a statement. “The CRTC refusal to inquire into the shocking sales practices of Canada’s major telecommunications and broadcasting companies says to consumers, ‘You’re on your

Should the CRTC Get Out of Telecom?

Christine Wilson June 9, 2016

Federal Conservative Party leadership candidate Maxime Bernier thinks the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) should be cut out of the telecom business. He said the agency has a “control freak mindset” which impedes investment and sustainable competition. Bernier is known as a long-time advocate for telecom deregulation. “It’s not the role of the CRTC or the government to decide how this increasingly complex market should evolve,” Bernier was quoted as saying. “It’s up to the producers and consumers.” How would deregulation even begin? Bernier believes the federal Department of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development could take over the CRTC’s more

Canadian Commissioner to Hear Television Service Complaints

Tori Sutton March 21, 2016

Canadian consumers with television service complaints will soon be able to turn to the Commission for Complaints for Telecommunication Services (CCTS) for help. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced last week that television service providers would have until Sept. 1, 2017 to become members of the CCTS. This means the CCTS is now the single point of contact for complaints about all major services, including television, Internet, wireless and landline telephone. Consumers concerned with things such as billing and service delivery are asked to first contact their provider for attempted resolution before filing to the CCTS. “Since 2007,

ISPs Won’t Get Chance to Offer Discounted Wireless

Tori Sutton February 23, 2016

A recent Canadian Radio-television Commission (CRTC) ruling likely means high cellphone bills are here to stay in Canada. Last week, the CRTC ruled against a coalition of small ISPs interested in offering steeply discounted wireless services. The ISPs – known as the Canadian Network Operators Consortium – hoped to rent the networks of the big Canadian telcos, allowing them to offer alternative, inexpensive services. However, the CRTC says such a move wouldn’t be fair to the companies that have invested in their own networks, such as Bell, Rogers and Telus. One thing is clear: it’s unlikely Canadians will benefit from

Rogers Fined for Violating Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation

Tori Sutton November 23, 2015

Rogers is the latest company to be nailed for violating Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL) for issues surrounding its email unsubscribe mechanism. According to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), emails sent by Rogers during a one-year period starting July 2014 – the same month CASL came into effect – had a faulty unsubscribe mechanism. “During this period, the company allegedly sent commercial emails containing an unsubscribe mechanism that did not function properly or which could not be readily performed by the recipient,” states a CRTC press release. “In addition, in some instances, the electronic address used to unsubscribe was

Agency May Soon Oversee Cable TV Complaints

Tori Sutton November 3, 2015

Are you a Canadian with a telecom complaint? If you’re mad and informed enough you may take it all the way to the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS). If you don’t know about this watchdog, you should: the CCTS handles over 10,000 complaints per year and can force providers to pay consumers up to $5,000 in the event of a billing error. That’s $5,000 in compensation over and above the amount of the error to be refunded. Have we told you some studies show up to 80 percent of telecom bills contain errors? Do the math. I bet

Complaints Lead to $170,000 Fine

Tori Sutton October 27, 2015

Here at Schooley Mitchell complaints are nothing new. We hear them about poor telecom services and vendors all the time! One of the most annoying things that continues to plague families is receiving unsolicited telemarketing calls. They always seem to come at the most inopportune time, like when you are sitting down to dinner or have your hands full. In Canada, two home improvement companies are facing hefty fines for doing just that – calling residents who had registered their phone numbers on the national Do Not Call List (DNCL). The rules state that once someone signs up on the

Government’s wireless promises fall short?

Tori Sutton October 13, 2015

You hear plenty of promises from our political leaders. Government reform, tax cuts, foreign policy and spending, the list goes on and on. But how often do you hear a political party pledge to tackle your growing mobile phone bill? In 2008, Canada’s Conservative government did just that. And now, in the midst of a federal election campaign, its failure to make real gains is drawing the ire of consumer advocacy groups. “The Conservative government’s plan to increase cellphone affordability has been half-measured and ineffective,” fired Steve Anderson, director of Open Media, in a recent Toronto Star story. “Despite years