OTTAWA – More than a year after announcing its launch, the CRTC has activated the Broadcasting Participation Fund.
The Commission made the announcement via Twitter Friday. The independent fund, which originated with $3 million in benefits proposed by BCE when it purchased CTVglobemedia in 2011, is designed to aid public interest groups and consumer groups offset their costs of participating in broadcast hearings before the Commission.
The CRTC approved the proposal to establish the BPF on March 26, 2012. The fund’s new website attributed the year-long delay to the time needed to finalize the fund’s documents of incorporation and stakeholder agreements, (which didn’t happen until August 2012), establish a board of consumer and industry stakeholders, retain an independent costs officer, and then develop procedures to manage the fund.
The current directors of the BPF are David McKendry, who chairs the fund, Lynne Toupin, consumer/public interest director, and Robert Farmer, broadcasting industry director. Welch LLP, an Ottawa-based accounting firm, has been retained as the fund’s cost officer.
Groups applying to the fund can submit eligible costs for work incurred on or after March 26, 2012. Application forms and other information can be found on the BPF website.
