CPAC CEO says they need increase in funding to maintain core operations beyond September 2026

Cable Public Affairs Channel Inc., also known as CPAC, says it needs an increase to the money it receives through a wholesale fee to keep its core operations going as normal beyond September 2026. CPAC CEO Christa Dickenson told The Wire Report in an interview that she has been working on how to tackle CPAC’s need for funding since she returned to the not-for-profit in 2022. CPAC primarily broadcasts parliamentary proceedings simultaneously in English and French on two TV channels, its website, and on social media, as well as long-form coverage of other public proceedings, such as at the Supreme Court of Canada, public inquiry commissions, and political conventions and conferences, in addition to federal election coverage. CPAC said in a Part 1 application posted by the CRTC this week that if its rate does not go up, its daily coverage of political and democratic events would be “cut back substantially.” CPAC wants to increase its regulated wholesale fee for basic carriage by three cents, to a total of 16 cents per subscriber per month. That means that CPAC would get that amount of money each month per subscriber, based on basic-level service subscriptions, from Canada’s broadcasting distribution undertakings. If approved, the fee increase would go into effect on Sept. 1, 2026. “It will not be possible for CPAC to provide the same level and scope of programming as we do now…without the proposed modest and realistic upward adjustment to our wholesale fee,” said Dickenson in the application, which was posted by the CRTC July 24 and dated July 19. Licences due for renewal in 2023 CPAC’s existing broadcasting licences were last renewed for a five-year period that was set to end in August 2023. Dickenson had expected to take part in a licence renewal process with the CRTC at the end of that period, “or perhaps at the end of August 2024.” That would have been the time to review CPAC’s funding requirements and budgets, which could have led to a revised wholesale fee, Dickenson noted in the application. But the CRTC instead issued CPAC an administrative renewal of its licence until Aug. 31, 2026, which has had a “material impact on its financial planning.” “After that point, continued operations are not feasible at CPAC’s existing wholesale fee without drastic service reductions,” Dickenson said in the application. “There’s an understanding that the CRTC’s roadmap, what they have on it, is behemoth. So, we look at grants and contributions, we look at efficiencies, we rolled out a voluntary departure program,” Dickenson said in an interview. “We are reducing the number of original hours, because original content means there’s production dollars behind that, but there’s also simultaneous interpretation as well as closed captioning.” She said CPAC has filed its Part 1 now in an effort to get ahead of the deluge of broadcasting licences expected to be reviewed in 2026 once broadcasters’ administrative renewals expire. “We said, ‘Why don’t we get into the queue right away?’ We’re small, I think people understand what’s going on and how democracy is under attack, and that an institution like CPAC needs to survive,” Dickenson told The Wire Report. While it is asking for more money, its application states that CPAC “has been mindful” of the costs shouldered by Canadian subscribers and other broadcasters. “I think every single broadcaster is affected by the fact that there’s so much that the CRTC is doing right now, so therefore it’s a little bit slower than expected. The potential of a concept for a services of exceptional importance fund, that is the thing that CPAC and our peers we’ve been advocating for,” Dickenson said. CPAC and others, such as the Aboriginal Television Network, have been vocal about the desire for such a fund, which would support such broadcasters with extra money. “Again, I have full faith that the right thing will happen in time, it’s just we can’t wait for everything…,” Dickenson said. Overall subscribers down Dickenson flagged in the application that the overall number of basic-level subscribers in Canada has gone down over the past six years. At the end of the 2022/23 broadcast year, there were 1.42 million fewer of those subscribers than in 2018, when CPAC’s licences were last renewed, she said. That amounts to a reduction of 13 per cent. At the end of the 2018/19 broadcast year, CPAC’s total subscription revenue was $16.4 million. By the end of this year, on Aug. 31, it expects total revenue for the year of $14.04 million. CPAC projected in its application that, based on current subscriber trends it looked at, its total subscriber revenue without an increased wholesale fee would be approximately $12.64 million for the 2026/27 broadcast year — 22.9 per cent less than its 2018/19 revenue. Dickenson said in the application that the combination of subscriber revenue going down and “unexpectedly high inflation,” in the past few years “has created a daunting challenge for CPAC,” which was founded in 1992 by a consortium of cable companies including Rogers Communications Inc., Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron, Cogeco Communications Inc., Bragg Communications Inc.’s Eastlink, and Access Communications. While those companies do not directly provide funds to CPAC, employees of each do sit on CPAC’s board – which supports its Part 1 application on the fee, Dickenson told The Wire Report. Accounting for inflation, in real dollar terms, CPAC expects that at its current wholesale rate, its purchasing power would actually be reduced by $6.2 million, a drop of 37.9 per cent, from its 2018/19 subscription revenue. CPAC estimates it could be eligible to get approximately $600,000 in the next two government fiscal periods to support operations. That’s in addition to the $5 million earmarked in the federal budget for CPAC to replace aging broadcasting equipment, some of which Dickenson said is beyond its expected lifetime. The application states the extra funding from the government will support CPAC’s operations for two years while it replaces critical equipment, but that there is no further funding expected beyond that. Dickenson said CPAC also worked out that some cost-saving measures of $750,000 annually, plus letting jobs go by attrition and voluntary buyouts, helps give CPAC space to keep operating until the end of the 2025/26 broadcast year. It also went through some one-time cuts of approximately $2 million. Such cuts made for fewer live and special events, Dickenson wrote, though original programming has been kept mostly intact. If the 3 cent fee increase is approved, Dickenson stated it would be “the lowest wholesale fee for any of the national television services that the CRTC has recognized as offering services of exceptional importance and designated for mandatory basic carriage.” If the fee increase is not approved, instead of proactively replacing aging gear, CPAC would “effectively replace infrastructure as it fails and would not be able to invest in new IP technologies that are expected to take CPAC — and all other broadcasters — well into this and the next decade,” the application states. “CPAC expects to hit a technical wall within the next five years where much more substantial investments would be required to replace the entire broadcast plant or CPAC would be unable to operate.” CPAC said it expects the fee increase could be considered by the CRTC solely through this application, or as part of a “more formal licence renewal process, which CPAC would also welcome.” Dickenson wrote that CPAC is also keeping an eye on the CRTC’s work on a regulatory framework for online services and “seeking an appropriate means for CPAC to engage with Canadians as an online service — and with much-needed support from the online sector.” CPAC is hoping for a decision on its wholesale fee request from the CRTC within one year to ten months before Sept. 1, 2026. The deadline for submitting interventions on CPAC’s application is Aug. 23. – Reporting by Hannah Daley at hdaley@thewirereport.ca This article has been updated to add information from an interview with CPAC CEO Christa Dickenson.

CPAC CEO says they need increase in funding to maintain core operations beyond September 2026

Broadcast | | July 25, 2024

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CPAC CEO says they need increase in funding to maintain core operations beyond September 2026

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