CBC Parliamentary Television Network
| CBC Parliamentary Television Network | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | September 1979 |
| Closed | October 1992 |
| Owned by | Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English, French |
| Broadcast area | National |
| Headquarters | Ottawa, Ontario |
| Formerly called | The House of Commons Broadcast Service |
| Replaced by | CPAC |
CBC Parliamentary Television Network was a Canadian cable television specialty channel that broadcast the Canadian House of Commons proceedings via Anik satellite to Canadian cable television headends between September 1979 and 1992.
The House of Commons Broadcast Service was established in October 1977 to maintain the video and audio equipment for broadcasting House of Commons proceedings. The responsibility to distribute the signal was assigned to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. CBC used the Anik satellites to distribute the proceedings to Canadian cable companies.
For most of the network's history, John Warren hosted a preview monologue before the beginning of daily proceedings and provided a short summary afterward.
In 1989, the CBC and a consortium of cable television providers made a joint proposal for the creation of a new entity, the Canadian Parliamentary Channel (CPaC) that would carry the proceedings of the House of Commons and committees, along with proceedings of royal commissions, enquiries, court hearings and provincial legislatures, and public affairs programming. A review of parliamentary broadcasting resulted but the CPaC proposal was not acted upon. In December 1990, the CBC announced that as a result of budget cuts the CBC "is no longer able to bear the cost of operating the English- and French-language parliamentary channels. The government will seek the views of the Speaker of the House and consider means of maintaining the service." The CBC announced that it was discontinuing its role as the parliamentary broadcaster effective April 1, 1991. As an interim measure, the House of Commons' Board of Internal Economy negotiated a temporary contract with the CBC to provide parliamentary coverage for an additional year while the Board considered proposals to take over the service. In 1992, the Board came to an agreement with Canadian Parliamentary Channel, Inc., a consortium of 25 cable companies, to take over the CBC's role. The Cable Public Affairs Channel, owned by a consortium of Canadian cable companies, took over responsibility for broadcasting the Canadian House of Commons proceedings in 1992.
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