{"id":19735,"date":"2026-05-05T05:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T09:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19735"},"modified":"2026-04-23T11:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T15:15:12","slug":"business-sense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19735","title":{"rendered":"Business sense"},"content":{"rendered":"

I sometimes wonder whether there is a sufficient level of business sense among the decision makers in the nation’s capital.<\/p>\n

The latest example is the absurd handling of urgent requests for modest monthly rate increases for mandatory carriage networks – files that took nearly 2 years to be processed.<\/p>\n

CPAC-TV<\/a> is the Cable Public Affairs Channel. In July 2024, the network asked the CRTC for a rate increase, to rise from $0.13 to $0.16 monthly. The thirteen cent rate had been in effect since September 1, 2018. A couple weeks ago, the CRTC finally awarded the requested increase<\/a>, effective September 1, 2026, conditional on the Commission renewing CPAC’s broadcasting licence and mandatory distribution order before that date. <\/p>\n

A week and a half later, a two cent monthly increase was granted<\/a> to TV5, effective immediately.<\/p>\n

Recall that the CRTC issued an interim non-decision<\/a> last November, kicking the can down the road until it finally got around to making a determination 5 months later. In my December 1, 2025<\/a> newsletter, I wrote:<\/p>\n

In July 2024, CPAC asked the CRTC for a $0.03 monthly rate increase. Its current $0.13 rate was set in 2018. On November 21, the CRTC decided<\/a> to defer until some unspecified time in the future. A year and a half to make a non-decision. CPAC says<\/a> the deferral jeopardizes its continuing operation. To their credit, Commissioners Scott and Abramson wrote a dissenting view appended to the Commission’s Decision, saying “given the pressures these exceptionally important services face today, we should decide today. Should something different be needed down the road, we can adjust down the road.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Commissioners Scott and Abramson demonstrated business sense in their November dissent. It is noteworthy that the decisions for CPAC and TV5 each contain dissenting opinions by Commissioners Desmond, and Paquette. In the CPAC dissent, they wrote:<\/p>\n

\n
    \n
  1. We respectfully conclude that the application by CPAC Inc. should continue to be deferred until more permanent and sustainable solutions are put in place.<\/li>\n
  2. Significant work is underway to modernize the broadcasting system in Canada. Key policy decisions will be issued in the coming months that will address the rapid changes that all industry players are experiencing.<\/li>\n
  3. While CPAC Inc. offers a service of exceptional importance, it benefits from a mandatory distribution order and a regulated fixed rate, providing some degree of financial stability in the short term. While its financial situation is urgent, so too is the case for many other industry players, including BDUs.<\/li>\n
  4. Waiting until the broadcasting system has been modernized before processing the CPAC Inc. application will provide a more permanent and sustainable solution and will allow for the ecosystem to first be stabilized before moving forward.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    I had to scratch my head with their conclusion. “While its [CPAC’s] financial situation is urgent, so too is the case for many other industry players, including BDUs” and so, let’s kick the can down the road once again. It is unclear to me how these Commissioners think CPAC would \/ could keep the lights on in the meantime.<\/p>\n

    In the meantime, let’s keep in mind that CPAC’s funding is dependent on a very modest monthly fee charged to TV subscribers – who are an ever shrinking breed. CRTC figures show that TV subscriptions have fallen from 9.0 million in the second quarter of 2024 to 8.6 million in third quarter of 2025, the latest available data. That represents a drop of $750,000 per year in revenues for CPAC. <\/p>\n

    In the case of TV5, the dissenting opinion leads with “With respect for the majority, we unfortunately cannot agree with the decision to increase the per subscriber monthly wholesale rate by $0.02 for the TV5 and UNIS TV services (TV5\/UNIS TV). We consider such a decision to be premature in the context of the Commission\u2019s ongoing exercise to modernize the Canadian broadcasting regulatory framework and given the challenges currently facing the cable sector.”<\/p>\n

    There is no question that the current cross-subsidy system is unsustainable, having TV subscribers foot the bills for CPAC, TV5 and the National Public Alert System, for that matter. I have referred<\/a> to these schemes as an off-the-books tax scheme.<\/p>\n

    But, until a more rational funding mechanism<\/a> is in place, it makes no sense – neither business sense nor common sense – to be unresponsive to funding requirements for essential services operated by the private sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I sometimes wonder whether there is a sufficient level of business sense among the decision makers in the nation’s capital. The latest example is the absurd handling of urgent requests for modest monthly rate increases for mandatory carriage networks – files that took nearly 2 years to be processed. CPAC-TV is the Cable Public Affairs …<\/p>\n

    Business sense<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBusiness sense • Telecom Trends<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I sometimes wonder whether there is a sufficient level of business sense among the decision makers in the nation's capital. The latest example is the • May 5, 2026\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19735\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Business sense • Telecom Trends\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I sometimes wonder whether there is a sufficient level of business sense among the decision makers in the nation's capital. The latest example is the • May 5, 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19735\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Telecom Trends\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-05T09:08:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mark_logo_png-scaled.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1061\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mark_goldberg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mark_goldberg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=19735#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=19735\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mark\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7a2b80bac06ee3d5cacca8c7708bfe8f\"},\"headline\":\"Business sense\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-05T09:08:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=19735\"},\"wordCount\":703,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=19735#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=19735\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=19735\",\"name\":\"Business sense • Telecom Trends\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-05T09:08:11+00:00\",\"description\":\"I sometimes wonder whether there is a sufficient level of business sense among the decision makers in the nation's capital. The latest example is the • May 5, 2026\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=19735\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Telecom Trends\",\"description\":\"A Canadian perspective on trends in telecom\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Mark H Goldberg & Associates Inc.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/mark_logo_png.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/mark_logo_png.png\",\"width\":3484,\"height\":1444,\"caption\":\"Mark H Goldberg & Associates Inc.\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/mark_goldberg\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7a2b80bac06ee3d5cacca8c7708bfe8f\",\"name\":\"Mark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/351a7c78c378da7db6aac956985487573ab74c25cb83c460c715fa6d0fcfa7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/351a7c78c378da7db6aac956985487573ab74c25cb83c460c715fa6d0fcfa7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/351a7c78c378da7db6aac956985487573ab74c25cb83c460c715fa6d0fcfa7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark\"},\"description\":\"Mark Goldberg has more than 40 years of international experience in strategic planning, managing, designing and implementing telecommunications carrier networks.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.mhgoldberg.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/mark_goldberg\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Business sense • Telecom Trends","description":"I sometimes wonder whether there is a sufficient level of business sense among the decision makers in the nation's capital. The latest example is the • May 5, 2026","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19735","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Business sense • Telecom Trends","og_description":"I sometimes wonder whether there is a sufficient level of business sense among the decision makers in the nation's capital. The latest example is the • May 5, 2026","og_url":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19735","og_site_name":"Telecom Trends","article_published_time":"2026-05-05T09:08:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1061,"url":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mark_logo_png-scaled.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Mark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@mark_goldberg","twitter_site":"@mark_goldberg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19735#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19735"},"author":{"name":"Mark","@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7a2b80bac06ee3d5cacca8c7708bfe8f"},"headline":"Business sense","datePublished":"2026-05-05T09:08:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19735"},"wordCount":703,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19735#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19735","url":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19735","name":"Business sense • Telecom Trends","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-05-05T09:08:11+00:00","description":"I sometimes wonder whether there is a sufficient level of business sense among the decision makers in the nation's capital. The latest example is the • May 5, 2026","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19735"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/","name":"Telecom Trends","description":"A Canadian perspective on trends in telecom","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Mark H Goldberg & Associates Inc.","url":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mark_logo_png.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mark_logo_png.png","width":3484,"height":1444,"caption":"Mark H Goldberg & Associates Inc."},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/mark_goldberg"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7a2b80bac06ee3d5cacca8c7708bfe8f","name":"Mark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/351a7c78c378da7db6aac956985487573ab74c25cb83c460c715fa6d0fcfa7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/351a7c78c378da7db6aac956985487573ab74c25cb83c460c715fa6d0fcfa7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/351a7c78c378da7db6aac956985487573ab74c25cb83c460c715fa6d0fcfa7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark"},"description":"Mark Goldberg has more than 40 years of international experience in strategic planning, managing, designing and implementing telecommunications carrier networks.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.mhgoldberg.com","https:\/\/x.com\/mark_goldberg"]}]}},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"tenweb_optimizer_mobile":false,"tenweb_optimizer_tablet":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Mark","author_link":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?author=1"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"I sometimes wonder whether there is a sufficient level of business sense among the decision makers in the nation’s capital. The latest example is the absurd handling of urgent requests for modest monthly rate increases for mandatory carriage networks – files that took nearly 2 years to be processed. CPAC-TV is the Cable Public Affairs…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19735"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19761,"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19735\/revisions\/19761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}