On the cusp of a sea-change in how we watch TV, the country’s cable companies have to wonder if they have any friends these days.

With licence renewals looming, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) will soon be taking a second look at how its new “skinny cable” regulations are being implemented by the industry.

But the real shock to the Canadian TV industry — and some viewers — will come with the second part of the CRTC’s new regs: The long-awaited “pick-and-pay” cable option that is to be available nationwide by December.

Many are predicting that pick-and-pay, every TV watcher’s wish-dream for decades, will usher in an era where it isn’t people’s favourite programs — but their favourite channels — that get cancelled for low ratings.

The “skinny” was a mandated minimum cable package of $25 a month that was implemented in March. Some 100,000 have opted for it since then, according to the CRTC, which will be conducting a review with Bell, Rogers, Shaw and Vidéotron in September. And the commission says it has received some 1,800-plus complaints from the public.

In some cases it’s because the “skinny” is skinny indeed. Bell’s $24.95 Starter Package includes a lot of French-channels in mainly-English markets, but doesn’t include any of the U.S. major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS or Fox). Those are extra.

Going the add-on route can quickly become more expensive than already-existing packages. And many companies tack on a rental for the converter box, pushing the cost well beyond $25.

And then there’s the inevitable “up-sell” when you call for the bare-bones package.

Former Toronto radio personality Mike Cleaver, now living in Vancouver, told Postmedia: “I went for the Shaw skinny package out here in B.C. They tried to dissuade me from downgrading, but I did it anyway.”

He said he was glad he held firm.

“Shaw’s (Limited TV) has the Canadian and American (network) channels, and I added one movie pack to get TCM (Turner Classic Movies). Already had the Shaw box I’d obtained for free when we signed up for our original package at $50 a month.” He said with $7 added on for the movie package, his bill has dropped to $32.

Toronto property manager Cathie Stanish said she was looking forward to dropping most of her Bell channels, but was waiting for pick-and-pay because “I’d die without HGTV (Home and Garden Television).” She was surprised to find out Bell had been quietly offering pick-and-pay ahead of the CRTC deadline since March.

Bell spokesman Caroline Audet confirmed the company offers pick-and-pay in all its cable markets for “$4 to $7 a channel.”

But pick-and-pay also signals a red-alert to the specialty channels that make up the “300 Channel Universe” we hear so much about. This year has already seen the demise of The Biography Channel and The Pet Network.

And the pay-movie service Super Channel was granted debt protection in an Edmonton court two weeks ago.

The company’s president, Malcolm Knox, said the major reason for its $115 million debt was overcharging by the cable companies that carried it — up to $18 extra a month in a cheap Netflix environment.

The top-10 specialty channels — TSN, YTV, Space, The Comedy network among them — have full-day average audiences ranging between the mid-five figures and below 200,000. Below that, conventional ratings are all but useless, with many shows registering a “hash mark” in the ratings (which A.C. Nielsen Co. defines as, “either zero or a number that is too small to be important.”)

Jay Switzer, co-founder and chair of the Hollywood Suite movie channels, operated and/or co-founded many of today’s top specialty channels while at the now defunct CHUM-City group. Among them: MuchMusic, Space and Bravo. He sees a storm coming.

“Canadians will get more choice, but an inintended consequence is that some channels — perhaps less popular overall, but very popular with a small number of passionate fans — will go dark,” he said.

“One of the big risks is the reduction in independent voices in this new media landscape,” he added.” I truly believe creating rules to allow the best and most creative of the independent services to grow and survive is ... smart public policy.”

Ivan Fecan, former CEO of CTVglobemedia, said pick-and-pay won’t necessarily kill those less-watched channels, but it will force them onto the Internet. “Channels with audiences will be fine. But if it’s niche, look for it online,” he quipped.

Which gets to the elephant in the room.

Even if all those 100,000 “skinny” customers were brand new clients, it’s dwarfed by an estimated 190,000 Canadians who “cut the cable” last year, according to a study by the market research firm Convergence. The company predicts about the same number for 2016.

At that rate, it won’t just be the cable packages that get skinny.