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TORONTO — The head of Canada’s broadcaster regulator says it’s too soon to tell if Canadian TV service providers are respecting the spirit of the CRTC’s new basic cable regulation, often referred to as skinny basic.

However, Jean-Pierre Blais hints that the CRTC has a big stick to wave for those who don’t comply — television licence renewals.

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“Most of the television services provider licences — their actual licences — are up for renewal in the short term,” Blais, the CRTC’s chairman and CEO, said in an interview following a speech Tuesday to the Canadian Marketing Association in Toronto.

You’ve got to threaten because that’s the only one way your call will get escalated. It’s the only way you’ll get a special deal.

“I don’t even have to do enforcement action. Their licences are there in front of us.”

The CRTC has been on the lookout for anti-consumer practices since the March 1 deadline requiring all cable and satellite TV service providers to offer basic cable packages capped at $25 a month. Companies must also let consumers add on a la carte channels or pre-packaged bundles, and must offer both of these options by December.