Wednesday February 8 is Bell’s “Let’s Talk Day“. On February 8, Bell will donate 5 cents to mental health programs for every text message sent and every long distance call made by Bell and Bell Aliant customers.
I wrote last year that I admired the way Bell was willing to have its brand associated with mental health. There are very few national brands that are powerful enough to take the lead in being an anchor supporter of mental health research and treatment; Bell’s approach – getting people to talk about it – aligns with what the company does for a living.
One in five Canadians will suffer from a mental illness at some point in their lives, but it is something that most of us avoid talking about.
I’d like you to support this initiative. Visit Bell’s website for more information or check out the press release. And on Wednesday – Let’s talk.
The Ottawa Citizen ran a sloppily researched and unbalanced story Tuesday night after the CRTC released its first quarterly report on ITMP complaints. It was the subject of my post called Statistical Insignificance. The story looked at the CRTC’s report and concluded there had been a “sharp jump”, a “public outcry” and cited Michael Geist saying the numbers represented a “big spike in complaints.”
Problem was, nobody looked at the numbers. The story’s writer compared the fourth quarter complaints (27) with the total number of complaints over a two year period since the ITMP rules were in place (59) and presumed that this represented a 400% increase, a figure that a Financial Post editor used to justify its headline of “skyrocketing” complaints when re-running the story. Another Financial Post story also referred to the mythical “sharp jump” in complaints.
The story even tried to explain the “big spike”:
In September 2011, the CRTC issued a bulletin announcing improved reporting practices for Internet complaints, which could be responsible for the recent spike in public concern.
None of the reporters, editors or expert commentators considered how the data in the previous period was distributed across the two years. I thought it would be unlikely to be even distribution, but apparently, no one bothered to ask the CRTC what the numbers looked like.
So I did.
The CRTC told me that there were 25 complaints in the period July 1 to September 30.
Twenty five in the third quarter of 2011 versus 27 in the fourth quarter.
The Ottawa Citizen used some pretty extreme terms – public outcry, sharp jump – after Michael Geist commented on the release of the CRTC’s quarterly report on Internet Traffic Management complaints. The Citizen quotes Professor Geist as saying “I think the public is more aware of the rules and the value of filing complaints because over the last three months in particular, we’ve seen a pretty big spike in complaints.”
Really? Let’s look at the numbers to see if the figures merit such terms.
According to the Citizen, the CRTC reported that it received 41 ITMP-related complaints in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to 67 complaints in the prior two years. The article ignored the fact that the CRTC ruled that a third of the complaints in 4Q11 were misdirected (the CRTC classified 14 of the 41 as non-ITMP related and, in some cases, referred the complaints to the CCTS). So the real numbers are 27 ITMP complaints compared to 59 in the prior 2 year period. We do not know the timing of the complaints within that 2 year period, so people have implicitly assumed that the complaints were evenly distributed in that period.
More importantly, we need perspective on the magnitude of these numbers.
There are close to ten and a half million residential internet connections in Canada. That is right: 10.5 million. Twenty seven complaints works out to 0.00026%. That is in the same order of magnitude of the odds of being struck by lightning. Twenty seven complaints in a three month period from 10 million customers can hardly be called a sharp spike, let alone be evidence of a public outcry.
If 6 people gathered to protest in front of Toronto City Hall, would we call that a public outcry? If a year earlier, only 1 person had been at the City Hall protest, would we say that the 6 people represented a “pretty big spike in complaints”? Those are the kind of numbers we’re talking about.
The fact that a third of the complaints were non-ITMP related is hardly a sign that the public is more aware of the rules. Indeed, the percentage of non-ITMP complaints appears to be rising, which may indicate that recent education efforts are failing.
The significance of the report from the CRTC wasn’t worth much more than a tweet. It is the start of the Commission’s reporting; I look forward to starting to see more quarterly data before I would suggest there are any trends.
The NFL has called interference on the CRTC for meddling into its mobile content licensing agreement.
As I wrote in December, the CRTC told Bell that it was anti-competitive for Bell to have exclusive agreements for carrying prime time NFL games, the Pro Bowl game, all playoff games (including the Super Bowl), NFL Network programming, NHL games and video highlights. The CRTC chair said “Canadians shouldn’t be forced to subscribe to a wireless service from a specific company to access their favourite content. Healthy and fair competition between service providers will promote greater choice for Canadians.”
I disagreed.
The CRTC ordered Bell to report back by the end of January on how it planned to ensure that TELUS had access to the content at reasonable terms. Late today, Bell filed its report saying there are no steps that can be taken to ensure third party access to the the NFL programming because Bell lacks the necessary rights to license or sub-license the content; the right to amend the agreement with the NFL; and the right to terminate the agreement.
Bell included an abridged copy of a letter from the NFL, confirming these points and indicating that there are still an undisclosed number of seasons remaining under the current deal.
As you know, NFLI engaged in a competitive bidding process for its mobility rights in Canada that included several wireless providers in the market. We offered a package of rights focused on exclusive content for live games along with a variety of non-exclusive rights. It was our belief that this model, which is one we have used often in countries throughout the world, in the best model for offering this set of rights in Canada. Bell was the winning bidder for these rights, and we continue to believe in the desirability of this model. Therefore, at this time, NFLI has no interest in amending the Mobility Agreement. NFLI fully expects Bell to honor its obligations under the Mobility Agreement throughout the full remainder of the term.
The CRTC doesn’t regulate the NFL, but it could theoretically order Bell to stop carrying the content. As satisfying as it may be for the regulator to show its power, it is hard to see how that kind of action could possibly be in the public interest.
Let’s have a little perspective here. Bell doesn’t have an exclusive for access to voice calling or emergency services. It is football – American football at that.
I continue to believe that healthy competition doesn’t mean all service providers should have all the same services, any more than all service providers should all carry the same devices. If one service provider has really hot content, then other service providers will have to respond with another compelling offer.
If a customer really wants mobile access to the NFL, then their current service provider is going to have to work that much harder to keep their voice and data business.
Only one event gathers Canada’s communications and ICT leadership together each year.
The Canadian Telecom Summit is the conference that delivers convergence in a physical sense, bringing together the leading people who shape the evolution of our digital economy.
There are now an even dozen leaders confirmed keynote addresses, with more to be announced in the coming weeks. Another 50 thought leaders will be engaged in panel discussions.
OpenText Exec Chair & CSO Tom Jenkins
It is shaping up to be another great programme for the annual gathering of Canada’s ICT industry, taking place this year from June 4-6, again at The Toronto Congress Centre.
Here is a quick look at some of the people who are new additions to the agenda.
For the past couple years, we have moved to a fireside chat format for the head of the CRTC; Acting Chair Len Katz is now confirmed for Tuesday morning, June 5, just before the Regulatory Blockbuster that features a debate between Canada’s most prominent telecom policy chiefs.
CBC EVP English Services, Kirstine Stewart
OpenText Executive Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer Tom Jenkins is being pressed into double duty on Wednesday June 6. In the morning, he is participating in our Building a Digital Canada discussion and he will deliver the conference’s closing address that afternoon. Having chaired the Federal Government’s R&D Policy Review and the Ontario Innovation Roundtable, we can expect some powerful messages on what we need to do to successfully transform Canada to a digital economy.
As EVP of English Services, Kirstine Stewart heads the delivery of programming across multiple platforms, including the development of mobile and broadband content strategies. Kirstine has re-established the CBC as a leader in Canadian-made television programming and broadcasting, commissioning the highest level of Canadian content the CBC has ever had in prime time. She will be speaking on June 6.
There are many more speakers confirmed and the panels are shaping up nicely as well. Be sure to visit the conference website to stay on top of programme updates.
