The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is redoubling efforts to help television subscribers unbundle their TV packages, pressuring TV providers to adhere to a new set of best practices for basic cable. The Globe's James Bradshaw writes that the guidelines are the result of a hearing the CRTC held in September, calling the country's four largest TV distributors -- BCE, Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications and Videotron -- to account for the ways they rolled out slimmed-down bundles of channels that the CRTC first mandated in March. The regulator said providers should promote new options, keep offers simple, allow multiple-service discounts even on entry-level packages and let subscribers change their channel mix on-line, among other measures. To encourage compliance, the CRTC will only renew most TV providers' licences for one year, rather than the typical seven-year term, giving the regulator leverage to impose conditions on companies if they are not co-operating. Until then, the CRTC promises to "closely monitor" TV providers' behaviour, especially after Dec. 1, when all channels must be available to buy a la carte.