CRTC backs Rogers in Shaw Rocket Fund decision

Rogers Communications Inc. won big at the CRTC, as the commission decided the Toronto conglomerate does not need to keep endowing the Shaw Rocket Fund in a decision released on April 23. When Rogers swallowed up Shaw in 2022, Rogers was directed to give half of its Certified Independent Production Fund (CIPF) contributions to the Shaw Rocket Fund (SRF). Rogers' licence term expired in August 2025, but the term was extended through administrative renewal in 2023, with a new expiry date of August 31, 2026. SRF told the commission the funding should continue to the later date, while Rogers informed the fund it was ceasing contributions in 2025. Any future administrative renewals would extend the deadline, the fund argued. The regulator received 60 interventions on the topic. The Rogers Group of Funds (RGF) opposed the application; the other 59 endorsed the SPF position. Shaw Rocket Fund stated the direction to fund it was an obligation arising from the takeover of Shaw Communications. There was no calendar date and the direction was not intended to let Rogers stop funding this necessary condition. Rogers disputed this, saying the half of the CIPF contributions going to the Rocket Fund were temporary and that money is now going to the RGF itself. The money has been allocated already, it added. The commission sided with Rogers, declaring the funding direction was temporary and ended on Aug. 31, 2025. The subject of administrative renewal did not come into play, the CRTC said. “Accordingly, the direction was to continue to the end of the licence term in effect at the time the direction was given,” the commission states. “When that term ended on 31 August 2025, so too did the direction to contribute.” Although the majority of commissioners agreed with the ruling, it was not unanimous. Dissents were filed by Ontario commissioner Bram Abramson and Ellen Desmond, representing the Atlantic provinces and Nunavut. Abramson maintains that a public hearing should have been held to determine whether the funding should continue. “In this context, the public interest is engaged by whether support for the SRF, a leading private-sector funder of Canadian children’s programming, should continue,” he writes. “I would have considered that a hearing was required, ensured a record, and decided the substantive issue on that basis.” He chides his colleagues for limiting the contributions to 2025, and says they erred by determining that administrative renewals did not affect the requirement to fund the SPF. Desmond also argues the renewals have an impact on the funding topic. “When the administrative renewal decision was issued without any consultation, the commission specifically stated that issues arising from the renewal were not disposed of and that an opportunity to comment on substantive issues would be provided at a later date,” she argues (original emphasis). Desmond concludes that the SPF commitment to children’s programming makes it a matter of public interest. That approach was endorsed by the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA). “Given the fact that the Shaw Rocket Fund is the only CIPF specifically dedicated to funding kids content in Canada, today’s CRTC decision is a concerning setback for the children's content industry, which continues to face significant pressure,” the group said in a statement to The Wire Report. “Looking to the future, industry and government must work together to develop a new framework that supports the production of Canadian kids programming.” The ruling comes on the heels of a CMPA report outlining the state of the film and television industry in Canada for 2025. For the 2024/2025 season, total volume of production budgets was $10.2 billion, an increase of 4.6 per cent. Total jobs in the sector stood at 181,360, a fall of 0.3 per cent, while film and TV productions contributed $11.7 billion to Canada’s GDP last year. Production activity was greatest in Ontario with $3.16 billion, or 35 per cent of the national total. British Columbia was second with $2.6 billion or 29 per cent, followed closely by Quebec at $2.41 billion or 27 per cent. The prairie provinces and northern territories posted a mere $0.46 billion for five per cent, with the Atlantic provinces bringing up the rear with $0.31 billion, equivalent to four per cent. Canadian content for English, bilingual and non-official languages was $2.49 billion, while French-language programming totaled $1.13 billion ppark@thewirereport.ca

CRTC backs Rogers in Shaw Rocket Fund decision

Regulatory |
By Paul Park
|April 23, 2026

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CRTC backs Rogers in Shaw Rocket Fund decision

Regulatory | By Paul Park |April 23, 2026

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