CPAC CEO concerned about funding after CRTC deferral, says organization is ‘emaciated’

The CEO of Cable Public Affairs Channel Inc. (CPAC) says “the clock is ticking” on the organization's financial situation after the CRTC deferred its consideration of CPAC’s application to increase its mandatory per subscriber monthly wholesale rates. In a decision released on Nov. 21, 2025, the CRTC attributed the deferral to its continued implementation of the modernized Broadcasting Act. “Given the key policy decisions that will arise from these proceedings, the commission considers that it would be more appropriate to consider the applications in light of those decisions,” it said. But CPAC CEO Christa Dickenson, says time is not on the organization’s side, and she’s concerned about how long the application will be deferred for. “This silence for us, it’s not only deafening, we are an organization that is absolutely emaciated,” she told The Wire Report in a phone interview. CPAC’s application, submitted in July 2024, proposed increasing its regulated wholesale fee for basic carriage by three cents, to a total of 16 cents per month, by September 2026. Which, according to Dickenson, means an extra $3 million a year. The CRTC’s decision also included a deferral of consideration of similar applications from TV5 Quebec Canada and Vues & Voix. Dickenson says failing equipment, some so old it is no longer supported by manufacturers, means the company needs an infrastructure overhaul. She says CPAC has had to buy replacement parts on eBay, and that the proposed rate increase would fund the much-needed equipment. “It’s not about saying, okay, what could you trim? It’s actually about being on the air or not being on the air,” she says. “That is where we’re at.” Both Adam Scott, vice-chair of telecommunications, and commissioner Bram Abramson dissented from the majority, arguing that the CRTC should be making decisions now, rather than waiting for new policies to be released. “The whole broadcasting system is in transition and wrestling with significant disruption and uncertainty,” they said. The CRTC said it continues to act “as quickly as possible” to issue key decisions affecting the broadcasting system. Dickenson says the dissenting opinion is encouraging, as for her it means there are individuals in the commission who understand the “sense of urgency” of CPAC’s financial situation. She also says that while the deferral is concerning from a CEO standpoint, she understands that there’s a strategy to modernizing the act, and says the CRTC has an "unbelievable amount of work on their roster.” Scott and Abramson, however, said that while some decisions need to be sequenced in order to deliver a “coherent framework,” if changes need to be made to these applications based on future policies, those changes can be addressed down the road. “We should not wait to do serially what can be done in parallel,” they said. The CRTC says it recognizes the “exceptional importance” of the services the applicants provide, including programming that serves Canadians’ needs and interest, including Francophones from official language minority communities, and programming for people with disabilities. Dickenson echoed CPAC’s importance, saying, “We are witnessing an erosion of democratic trust, and it's in those moments that people turn more and more to CPAC.” The commission says that through its regulatory plan to modernize the act, it is reviewing whether existing regulations are still effective in supporting these services and notes it is reassessing “the various regulatory levers available to the commission concerning financing and distribution.” CPAC has been operating at the same rate of 13 cents since 2018. When it submitted its application in 2024, Dickenson said the company cut costs to buy itself time until the September deadline. But now, after having recently wrapped its 2024-25 fiscal year, Dickenson’s seen subscriber rates drop 3.8 per cent, compared to the budgeted 3.5 per cent, and she’s worried about CPAC’s future. Dickenson says she’s hoping to receive a clear timeline on the deferral. She also says she will continue advocating for a ‘services of exceptional importance fund’ to support organizations like CPAC. “We are the vaults, we are the record of democracy for decades,” she says. “And it would be a shame to see that threatened in any way, simply because of some timing issues around some regulatory pieces.” mcollins@thewirereport.ca

CPAC CEO concerned about funding after CRTC deferral, says organization is ‘emaciated’

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By Maria Collins
|November 21, 2025

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CPAC CEO concerned about funding after CRTC deferral, says organization is ‘emaciated’

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