PIAC says customers need better skinny basic info

GATINEAU — On the final day of a two-day hearing, consumer groups told a CRTC panel that the regulator should set standards for how companies present information about their skinny-basic packages, while CRTC commissioner Jean-Pierre Blais implied consumers also have some responsibility to inform themselves. The argument was brought forward when the panel questioned the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the Union des consommateurs, both of which said that there should be a standard way companies present information about the skinny basic and various packages, to allow consumers to more easily compare the various offerings from a specific company and between various providers. “It’s hard to compare across BDUs or even between packages because the extra charges and the content of the small packages are not either told to people or not in a consistent manner,” John Lawford, executive director and general counsel of PIAC, told the panel. Standardizing the information that’s presented would make certain costs, such equipment rentals and purchases not included in the basic package, more clear on providers' websites. The CRTC announced on Friday that it would make tools available on its website this week that would make TV service choices easier for consumers. Lawford made the argument in response to a question from commissioner Stephen Simpson, who asked: “If you try and standardize these packages to the extent that perhaps you are describing, do you not take away competitive abilities of the companies to differentiate themselves?” Lawford said PIAC doesn’t want the packages themselves to be standardized, but only the way providers present information about them. For instance, the group agrees with allowing the TV providers to be flexible with their small basic package, for example allowing them to add the U.S. 4+1 channels whenever they feel it works for them, though he pressed the point that “standard information is key.” He also told the panel the group had a similar position on the wireless code in which consumers could compare cost and especially of equipment. The idea, he said, is that “it reduces consumer's search bandwidth; you don’t have to think so hard if it’s presented in an easy-to-digest manner.” In an intervention before the hearing — which began on Wednesday with testimony from the companies about their compliance with the March 1 skinny-basic deadline and wrapped up on Thursday with arguments from consumer groups — PIAC stated that the industry must be more transparent with their basic package offerings, as well as discontinue what it said was the “unfair practice” of discriminatory pricing, or only offering bundling discounts to some customers. But Blais asked the consumer groups to consider this as a multi-party effort and not one that is weighted too much on the regulator’s side. “You’re making the argument that we need to intervene...by creating new obligations or clarifying,” Blais said. “But shouldn’t we first be making sure that consumers are occupying their responsibility as part of this shared responsibility ecosystem, which they themselves demand better, to change, to switch, to go elsewhere?” Blais asked PIAC. Lawford agreed with Blais that consumers do have a role, adding that “we’re just here to say, can we make it as level playing field and honest offers as possible.” When faced with a similar question on competition from Blais, the Union des consommateurs said that they don’t want all offers to be the same, but that the issue is related to the regulation of information — that basic services should be promoted as much as other services. The CRTC’s pick-and-pay mandate hasn’t yet been fully implemented. Still left is the second and final phase, which by December 1 will give all subscribers the option to pick-and-pay for individual channels. Lawford told the panel that this will usher in a major change in the market. Pick-and-pay “will greatly aid with what’s going on here,” Lawford said. “That will completely change the face of the market, and I think you’ll see people going to skinny basic ... in higher numbers once is fully implemented.” A J.D. Power survey recently found that skinny-basic subscribers with a pick-and-pay option were more satisfied than other customers with other types of subscriptions. — With reporting by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

PIAC says customers need better skinny basic info

Broadcast | September 8, 2016

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PIAC says customers need better skinny basic info

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