CPAC, originally standing for CBC Parliamentary Channel, is a Canadian cable television network. It is devoted continuously to coverage of public and government affairs, much like C-SPAN in the United States. In fact, CPAC and C-SPAN often share some of their programs. CPAC's main purpose is the broadcast of proceedings of the Canadian House of Commons. Other programming includes Supreme Court proceedings, political conventions, conferences, and general elections. Broadcasts on CPAC are in both English and French. In 2003, CPAC started to allow television viewers to choose which language they hear the service in, putting the feed of one language on the service's main audio channel and the feed of the other language on its SAP channel. CPAC also offers a "floor" feed, i.e. a feed that does not carry any simultaneous translation.
The CBC originally put CPAC on the air in late 1979. The CBC gave up control of the service to the office of the Speaker of the House of Commons in 1991, citing a budget shortfall, and one year later, the office of the Speaker in turn gave the service to a consortium of Canadian cable companies.
