The Shaw Rocket Fund has asked the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to uphold its 2022 direction for Rogers Communications to continue contributing to the Fund, following the media company’s notice that it would pull funding after Aug. 31.

In a Part 1 application published Aug. 11, the Shaw Rocket Fund argued that Rogers has incorrectly interpreted the Commission’s order on tangible benefits in its conditional approval of the Shaw merger in 2022.

In the decision, the Commission directed Rogers to continue allocating its contributions to the Shaw Rocket Fund and two Rogers funds — the Rogers Documentary Fund and the Rogers Cable Network Fund — “in equal amounts” for the remainder of its broadcasting distribution undertaking (BDU) licence term. That term expires at the end of this month.

On Aug. 8, 2023, the Commission issued a wave of administrative renewals to large broadcasting groups, including a one-year renewal for Rogers’ BDU licence term. The renewals were handed out on the basis that the Commission needed time to implement the Online Streaming Act’s amendments to the Broadcasting Act within its regulatory framework.

The Shaw Rocket Fund said Rogers notified them in August 2024 that it would discontinue its contributions the following year, insisting that the Commission’s order was only valid for three years.

That September, the Fund issued a letter to CRTC staff to clarify Rogers’ jurisdiction to cease contributions. On May 29, the Commission staff issued a letter to the Fund stating its view that Rogers was correct, and the administrative renewal did not extend the timeline for contributions.

“That interpretation cannot be correct,” read the Fund’s application. “If it was, Rogers would be entitled to walk away from a core public-interest obligation that was essential to securing regulatory approval of its acquisition of Shaw Communications Inc., through a procedural mechanism never intended to revisit or alter the substance of such obligations. Such a result would raise serious concerns regarding procedural fairness and the integrity of the Commission’s processes.”

The application went on to note that the CRTC must hold a public hearing in connection with a licence renewal “unless it is satisfied that a hearing is not required in the public interest.” The Fund argued that removing contributions to a fund dedicated to children’s programming “directly engages the public interest” and that the Commission “could not have intended for such a public interest measure to be removed by operation of the administrative renewal.” By doing so, it removed the opportunity for the Fund and its stakeholders and recipients to comment on the matter.

The Fund has asked the Commission to keep its 2022 decision in effect or provide any other interim relief measures “to preserve the status quo pending the outcome of a public hearing.”

In a statement to Playback Daily, a Rogers spokesperson pointed to the CRTC staff’s May letter, saying that “Commission staff issued a clear response agreeing that Rogers was to make contributions to the Fund until the end of August, consistent with CRTC’s intentions. Beginning in September, these contributions will be redirected to continue supporting Canadian film and television.”

The spokesperson added that Rogers will respond to the application as part of the public proceedings process. The application is open for comment until Sept. 10.

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