TORONTO – Getting funding to make television in Canada is about to get a whole lot different.
Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore announced today the Canadian Media Fund, a combination of the existing Canadian Television Fund and the Canadian New Media Fund.
The new fund, according to the Minister will be “reformed and rebranded” through a radically different partnership with the groups who provide the funding (government, DTH, cable and telco TV providers) and those who spend it (the production community). Its mandate will be to ensure the production of quality content and to make it available on multiple platforms.
The announcement was made this morning on the set of Flashpoint, a CTV series that is broadcast on conventional television and is also available online, Flashpoint is one of the many Canadian scripted series that will benefit from this initiative, says the ministry press release.
Tellingly, joining the Minister for the announcement were primarily distributors: Chris Frank of Bell Video Group, Phil Lind of Rogers Communications, Pierre Karl Peladeau of Quebecor/Videotron, Ken Stein of Shaw Communications, Mark Bishop and Matt Hornburg of marblemedia, Ivan Fecan of CTV and Tim Casgrain of CBC/Radio-Canada.
A number of the existing CTF board (Bell, Rogers and the CBC have board representation while Shaw and Quebecor resigned their spots) and executive – such as president Valerie Creighton – were also in attendance at the event (a previous version of this story said the executive and board were largely missing from the announcement. That was not the case. Cartt.ca regrets the error).
While the CTF and CNMF will continue to run as normal for the next 12 months (the new fund will launch on April 1, 2010), their existing structures (such as the 20-plus-member board which has minimal cable/DTH representation) will be dismantled.
“A smaller fully independent board made up of nominees of the funders will be created. Broadcasters, producers, and creators will be consulted through a mechanism to be established by the board. A contribution agreement between the Government of Canada and the Canada Media Fund will set the terms and conditions for the Fund,” reads the press release.
Broadcasters will be able to do their own in-house programming using the fund as well, a marked change from the past. While a portion of the CTF has been earmarked for productions to air on the CBC, the Corp still had to spend the dough on independent producers.
Plus, any company wishing to take advantage of the new fund has to have a plan for at least two platforms (one of which has to be TV) and commit to making the television portion in high definition.
“The Canada Media Fund will help our producers and broadcasters to do what they do best: create, entertain, and connect with Canadians," said Minister Moore. "We are confident that the broadcasting and interactive digital media sectors will continue to contribute to Canada’s economic well-being and will benefit Canadians from all regions of the country."
Four key principles have guided the Government in its decisions, says the release:
* Get governance and accountability right
* Reward success and require innovation
*Focus the investment on what Canadians want
* Level the playing field
"Our government recognizes the challenges currently facing broadcasters and producers," added Moore. "The most important thing the Government can do is ensure that the policies in place are not impediments to the changes required in the media industry. That is where this partnership becomes even more important."
The funds announced for the broadcasting and new media sectors in the 2009 Budget will be combined and joined through this partnership with the industry. By adding an ongoing allocation of $20.4 million to this funding each year, the Government will contribute a total of $134.7 million annually to support the production of Canadian programming-through the work of Canadian producers-over the next two years.
Added to the $150 million coming from distributors, that makes the new fund worth nearly $285 million.
More to come, as Cartt.ca has a reporter at the event in Toronto today.
