By Ahmad Hathout
The Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) is warning the CRTC that it cannot sustain its Parliamentary and public affairs programming beyond the broadcasting year ending in 2026 because the wholesale rate for broadcasters to carry the channel is too low.
CPAC filed a Part 1 application asking the regulator to consider increasing the rate to carry the channel on basic TV service by three cents to 16 cents per subscriber per month, effective September 1, 2026. CPAC said it had anticipated that it would have been able to bring this request in August 2024, which was the previous licence renewal period, but the CRTC automatically renewed the licence – along with other large broadcasters – to August 2026.
CPAC said it is giving the CRTC time to consider the application by bringing it now. It said it has been able to secure funding from other sources, including a federal budget contribution of $5 million, gap financing of $600,000 for fiscal 2025 and 2026, and nearly half a million dollars for those years from programming initiatives.
This funding, however, is temporary, and it comes against a backdrop of an increasing cost of living and what CPAC projects will be annual subscriber declines of 3.5 per cent through to at least August 2029 – from 9 million in 2023-2024 to 7.5 million in 2028-2029.
This is important because the wholesale fee is tied to the broadcasters’ subscriber base, which has been declining due to changing viewer habits. CPAC estimates that there were 1.42 million fewer basic service subscribers in 2022-2023 as compared to 2018.
“Despite CPAC’s careful use of resources, constant efforts to realize efficiencies and key cost-saving measures taken in recent years, we cannot continue to provide our core services with the current approved wholesale fee beyond the broadcasting year ending August 31, 2026,” CPAC said in its application, dated July 19. “It will not be possible for CPAC to provide the same level and scope of programming as we do now beyond this time frame without the proposed modest and realistic upward adjustment to our wholesale fee.”
The CRTC’s implementation of the Online Streaming Act, which will force online platforms to contribute to the Canadian system, is expected to assist CPAC, but the channel said it’s unclear when those benefits will come.
This spring, the CRTC approved an application by Aboriginal Peoples Television Network Incorporated (APTN) to increase its carry rate by three cents, from 35 to 38 cents, which takes effect this next broadcasting year.
Screenshot via CPAC website
