Citizen Involvement during the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV Consultation

Abstract

The authors analyze citizen engagement efforts undertaken by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) between 2013 and 2015, under the aegis of the Let’s Talk TV (LTTV) initiative. They explore whether and how input provided by citizen-consumers during LTTV demonstrates activism through engagements in policy discussions. The article first delineates the timing and scope of activities conducted by the Canadian regulator to involve individual Canadians in reshaping digital television services. The CRTC’s early decisions are then compared to the authors’ analyses of input from hundreds of people invited to answer the CRTC’s general questions online. Comparing the decisions made to date with citizen-consumer responses, the article points to contradictions and disconnects between the authors’ findings and the CRTC’s initial decisions.