By Ahmad Hathout
The Shaw Rocket Fund is asking the CRTC to rule that Rogers must continue funding the Certified Independent Production Fund (CIPF) through to the next licence renewal period or hold a public consultation on its intention to cut off payments at the end of this month.
The fund, which bankrolls children’s programming, has been receiving $2.2 million spread over seven years (around $300,000 annually) from the cable giant as a condition of its purchase of Shaw’s broadcasting assets, which was approved by the CRTC in 2022. But Rogers has only ever committed to supporting it until August 2025, which was when its licences were set to expire before the CRTC administratively renewed them through the summer 2026 to allow the regulator time to implement changes to the Broadcasting Act brought on by the Online Streaming Act.
Now, the Rocket Fund is asking the CRTC to ensure Rogers continues to bankroll the fund at least until that next renewal period or hold a public proceeding on the matter – lest the fund succumb to financial pressures, especially in light of a commission obligation to create a permanent funding envelope in 60 days.
“Allowing Rogers to unilaterally cease its contributions to the Rocket Fund would effectively nullify a key condition of approval for the acquisition, without any public process or accountability,” the fund said in a Part 1 application dated August 1 but made public Monday. “Such an outcome would be contrary to the Commission’s statutory mandate and longstanding policy framework and would constitute a clear breach of its duty of procedural fairness.
“The discontinuation of Rogers’ Rocket Fund contributions would most certainly result in the end of the Fund and all of the vital support it provides, which would have serious negative consequences for producers, creators, and, ultimately, Canadian children and youth,” the fund added.
The CRTC published the application for comment after conditionally approving the Rocket Fund to receive money from online streamers, who must pay into the system as a result of the new Broadcasting Act. But the fund and commissioner Ellen Desmond noted that the Rocket Fund may not be able to commit to the 60-day deadline to establish the envelope in light of the funding shortfall created by a Rogers pullout.
“Rogers’ contributions to the Rocket Fund are vital to the Fund’s continued operation and, as the only fund in Canada solely dedicated to children’s and youth programming, to the sustainability of the Canadian children’s production sector as a whole,” the fund said in its application. “This is precisely why the Commission issued the Rocket Fund Direction in the first place: in recognition of the unique and essential role the Rocket Fund plays in supporting high-quality Canadian content for young audiences.”
Rogers argued in a January 2025 letter to the commission that the regulator approved its “fixed, time-limited” commitment to the fund through to the original licence renewal period when it came to seek approval for the purchase of Shaw’s broadcasting assets. Rogers also argued that this commitment was a direction from the commission and not a condition of its licence, so it was not tied to renewal periods.
“As such … [the administrative licence renewal] does not provide the legal basis to revisit and modify the requirement approved in BD 2022-76,” Rogers said in the letter.
In a February 2025 reply to that letter, the Rocket Fund argued the contribution direction is part of the licence. “Rogers cannot both claim that the Contribution Direction was tied to ‘Rogers’ existing licence term’ and that it is ‘not attached to Rogers’ terrestrial BDU licences,’” the fund said. “The Contribution Direction was imposed as a condition of approval of the Rogers/Shaw Transaction. It is not simply a voluntary offer or commitment from Rogers that was accepted by the Commission. Rather, it is a direction imposed by the Commission, as a condition of approval, and is obviously a part of and attached to Rogers’ licences.”
The letters followed one sent by Rogers in late August 2024 reminding Agnes Augustin, the fund’s president and CEO, about the cable giant’s intention to cease funding at the end of August 2025.
