CPAC could get facelift as CRTC grants wholesale rate, mandates basic carriage

The Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) got its requested wholesale rate and expanded programming in a seven-year licence renewal issued November 19 by the CRTC. At the same time, the CRTC has made it mandatory for large cable operators and satellite TV distributors to carry the channel in their basic packages. The changes mean that subscribers will soon start footing a portion of the operating costs for the channel, currently operating on a $6-million annual budget financed by cable and satellite TV distributors. The new financing could also mean that the channel will undergo a facelift by next September. The CRTC approved a wholesale rate of 10 cents, increasing to 11 cents in the third year of the licence, as requested by CPAC (CCR, March 15/02). Distributors will be responsible for three cents of the wholesale rate that will be used to fund the Parliamentary coverage. The amount paid by subscribers would be used in "roughly equal measure" to finance existing licensed wrap-around public affairs programming and proposed new programming plans and initiatives, according to the CRTC decision. CPAC’s drive to rebrand CPAC as a timely, relevant political channel has been made easier as well by the CRTC’s decision to allow the channel to expand its programming categories. Its licence was amended to include analysis and interpretation programming, long-form documentary and informal education/recreation and leisure shows. Its current conditions stipulate that 100 per cent of all programming be drawn from the categories of reporting and actualities, or filler programming. "We’re very pleased that the commission gave us a very good renewal with respect to making this a valid service. It gives us stable financing to continue with our plans," CPAC general manager Colette Watson tells Canadian Communications Reports. She says the new initiatives will include more simultaneous interpretation, more captioning and new long-form regional programming. A revamp of the channel had already begun before the licence renewal approval, including on-air changes such as the hiring of veteran Ottawa journalist Peter Van Dusen and radio and TV personality Ken Rockburn (CCR, Feb. 15/02). The continued evolution of the channel, says Watson, will take time as the new licensing decision doesn’t take effect until March 2003. The channel was given a three-month administrative renewal under existing conditions as the CRTC prepared the decision (CCR, Aug. 29/02). Wholesale fee revenues aren’t expected to start rolling in until a few months after the new licence term begins. "We probably won’t be changing our on-air look until next September," Watson says. "We don’t have concrete plans yet for what those changes might be." CPAC’s new programming plans were opposed by the National Film Board and Stornoway Communications on the grounds that the addition of documentary programming would negatively impact The Documentary Channel and i channel, the digital specialty TV channels they respectively launched in September 2001. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) also claimed that the changes would bring about a "fundamental and unacceptable shift" away from CPAC’s current nature of service, and towards the introduction of a service competing with other existing services, contrary to commission policy (CCR, May 9/02). The CBC was worried about the effect a revamped CPAC would have on its analog specialty news channels Newsworld and Le Réseau de l’information (RDI). But the CRTC ruled that "the programming categories proposed by CPAC are appropriate for this type of service, and does not consider that the addition of this programming should trigger a competitive licensing process." As a safeguard, the CRTC made it a condition of licence that CPAC limit the amount of long-form programming on the channel to no more than 38 hours a week. As well, every six months no more than five per cent of licensed programming – excluding the gavel-to-gavel coverage of Parliamentary proceedings, which is exempt – can be long-form documentary and no more than five per cent can be informal/education. As previous court and CRTC proceedings have confirmed, CPAC must supply a bilingual sound feed of the House of Commons and Senate proceedings for distribution (CCR, June 21/02, May 10/01, June 7/01). The licensing decision spells out that DTH satellite TV distributors will be required to distribute CPAC in both official languages, and all Class 1 and 2 cablecos will have to make available a second audio feed of the official language of the minority. But all Class 1 and 2 cablecos with digital technology and capacity of 750 MHz will have to make available a separate video channel of CPAC in the official language of the minority, on either a digital or analog basis. CPAC has also made commitments to increase the amount of original French-language programming it airs. For example, it has plans to transform its current Revue Politique show from a weekly to a daily show. It has also committed to ensuring that 25 per cent of all licence fees spent on new documentary programming will be used to finance French-language productions. The CRTC has also hit CPAC with a condition of licence that requires it to provide simultaneous translation of 100 per cent of its licensed programming beginning in September 2003. CPAC has also committed to spending more on closed captioning, agreeing to minimum captioning levels of 90 per cent on all English-language programming, and 50 per cent on all French-language programming. Like other broadcasters who have recently appeared at licence renewal hearings, such as Global, CTV and CHUM, CPAC will be responsible for filing a corporate plan on cultural diversity and for providing the CRTC with annual reports on its progress in achieving the plan’s objectives.

CPAC could get facelift as CRTC grants wholesale rate, mandates basic carriage

Broadcast | November 22, 2002

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