Smaller broadcasters, telecoms fret over CRTC’s accessibility reporting proposals

Organizations representing smaller Canadian broadcasters and telecoms have expressed concern about the feasibility of the CRTC’s proposed new accessibility reporting requirements, suggesting that they could pose an undue burden. This July, the CRTC is due to implement new regulations that will oblige broadcasters and telecommunications companies to make their services more accessible to Canadians with disabilities, as part of 2019’s Accessible Canada Act (ACA), which aims to broadly eliminate barriers to participation in society for Canadians with disabilities, including within the federal government and all industries overseen at the federal level. In February, the Commission launched a consultation (covering both broadcast and telecommunications) on how companies in those sectors will be required to report their fulfillment of the ACA’s accessibility goals. Under the CRTC’s proposed reporting requirements, companies will be mandated to formulate accessibility plans every few years and submit progress reports on those plans in interim years. They will also be required to consult with Canadians with disabilities (or groups representing them), and to set up channels through which they can solicit Canadians’ feedback about their accessibility provisions. While the Commission suggested that it would be “appropriate” to grant exemptions from these rules to companies with fewer than 10 employees, they will likely apply to most other companies (although the CRTC has indicated that it may grant companies with under 100 employees more time to file the relevant documentation). According to the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC), this could result in thousands of companies bombarding disability advocacy groups with consultations. “As of , there are 4,370 entries in the Commission’s 'Registered Telecommunications Provider' list, which implies that over 4,000 entities will be consulting with accessibility communities in 2021...this warrants careful, ongoing attention to whether these regulations are ‘efficient and proportionate to their purpose’,” CNOC wrote in an intervention. The intervention went on to suggest that this could backfire on multiple levels. “This impact will be felt not just by the service providers, but the communities they must consult with, and then the Commission itself which must intake extensive information about compliance.” Along similar lines, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters expressed concern that imposing these reporting requirements on smaller broadcasters would be “inequitable” compared to larger companies. “Imposing unnecessarily deep or broad reporting requirements, especially on broadcasters who are already facing severe financial challenges, will merely divert resources from other important policy priorities, such as the production and exhibition of accessible news and information programming,” CAB wrote in its intervention. The association further suggested that the proposed requirements for soliciting feedback on accessibility would be particularly burdensome on broadcasters because they often have relatively few employees tasked with this kind of customer service work. “While telecommunications entities may be in a position to efficiently scale up existing customer service platforms and staff, most broadcasters will have to create something new, with little sense as to how, if at all, it will be accessed by the general public.” Larger companies such as BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., and Shaw Communications Inc. took relatively few issues with the CRTC’s proposals, although all three raised concerns with the CRTC’s feedback provisions -- in particular, a proposed requirement for companies to “receive feedback through any means by which they communicate with the public”. According to those companies, this would result in a confusing system where they would be obliged to take feedback about accessibility through an overly wide range of channels, including through social media, and staff at their shops. “Imposing such a vast and unstructured approach... will ultimately lead to greater consumer confusion...instead, we request that entities be permitted to set out in their accessibility plans, clearly and prominently...the ways in which a person can provide feedback,” Bell wrote in its intervention. In contrast, some advocacy groups contended that the CRTC’s reporting proposals should be even stricter. Toronto’s ARCH Disability Law Centre wrote that broadcasters and telecoms should be obliged to respond individually to feedback on accessibility issues and implement systems for recourse (the CRTC’s current proposal indicates that companies would only have to acknowledge receipt of feedback). “This response should communicate the actions the will take and when these actions will be taken...and how the person can escalate their feedback or make a complaint if they are not satisfied with the entity’s initial response,” ARCH’s intervention said. ARCH’s intervention also called for the CRTC to ditch its proposed exemptions for smaller companies, suggesting it should only offer “tailored exemptions” to companies facing “undue hardship”. “Regulatory exemptions to accessibility requirements have the unintended consequence of removing incentives for regulated entities to overcome barriers to accessibility.” — Reporting by Tim Forster at tforster@thewirereport.ca and editing by Hannah Daley at hdaley@thewirereport.ca and Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

Smaller broadcasters, telecoms fret over CRTC’s accessibility reporting proposals

Broadcast | March 23, 2021

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Smaller broadcasters, telecoms fret over CRTC’s accessibility reporting proposals

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