53% of funds went to companies owned by diverse groups
MONTREAL — Telefilm Canada revealed today almost $30 million was disbursed through the Covid-19 Emergency Relief Fund – Telefilm Allocation, with more than half of funding going to companies that are majority-owned by an underrepresented group.
Telefilm’s relief funding for the audiovisual industry was included as part of the federal government’s Covid-19 Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations.
Overall, Telefilm disbursed $29,654,492 in emergency funding to 549 companies in total, with 471 organizations allocated funding in Phase 1 of the program and an additional 81 in Phase 2.
Companies that…
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MONTREAL — Following the Department of Canadian Heritage’s announcement last month that the Short-Term Compensation Fund (STCF) for Canadian audiovisual productions is being extended until March 2022, Telefilm Canada today announced the new opening date for applications is March 4, 2021 for coverage starting on or after April 1, 2021.
“Producers who have already applied to the STCF for a project that begins shooting before March 31, 2021 and extends beyond that date must reapply for the portion that takes place after March 31, 2021,” reads Telefilm’s industry advisory. “This measure has been put in place to allow all…
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Real battles will come in front of the CRTC
By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – It was likely not done by design, but the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage could not have lined a more diverse set of individuals and groups as it did on its Friday, February 26 meeting to talk about Bill C-10, the bill to amend the Broadcasting Act.
Author and former CBC English services chief Richard Stursberg, Corus Entertainment, SOCAN, Rogers Communications, Netflix and two community television association groups.
Most, even including Netflix, support Bill C-10 and wish for speedy adoption (the real battles will come in front of the…
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OTTAWA – On Monday, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage continued its study of Bill C-10, which would amend the Broadcasting Act, and heard from representatives of the Canadian Media Production Association, Reynolds Mastin, president and CEO, Erin Haskett, chair of the board and Damon D’Oliveira, vice-chair.
CMPA began by endorsing the bill, but with needed changes. “(1) empowering the CRTC to ensure fair deals between streaming services or broadcasters with independent producers through codes of practice; and (2) ensuring that Canadians continue to own Canadian content,” Haskett said.
The CMPA has proposed codes of practices or terms of trade to…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – Last week, Conservative Senator Claude Carignan introduced Bill S-225, an Act to amend the Copyright Act (remuneration for journalistic works) to deal with the issue of the web giants like Facebook and Google sharing news stories without compensation for the journalists.
This would be done by amending the Act to include journalistic works under the realm of works covered by the Act – meaning compensation would have to be paid to a collective to be created, like the music business has with SOCAN.
This comes on the heels of Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault saying the federal…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – Bill C-10 passed second reading unanimously last Tuesday and was officially referred to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for study, which of course, has already begun.
The prior two meetings on the bill to amend the Broadcasting Act were, for all intents and purposes, labelled a pre-study of the legislation, in order to get a heard start hearing witnesses before the bill was approved in second reading.
So, officially, the meeting last Friday was the first meeting to officially look at the legislation.
However, the committee chair informed members and witnesses at the start of the meeting…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – Federal government officials, most notably Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, have been saying since Bill C-10 was introduced, that it could deliver as much as $830 million in new dollars, per year, for the production of Canadian content, by 2023.
Cartt.ca has attempted to guesstimate how the federal government came up with that amount, which is being used as a keystone figure by those who like the bill which would amend the Broadcasting Act. The amount would, of course, be made up from contributions from streamers (or “online broadcasters”) to the Cancon production system.
Knowing our…
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OTTAWA and VICTORIAVILLE, Que. — As Bill C-10 wends its way through the legislative process, CACTUS (the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations), the Fédération des télévisions communautaires autonomes du Québec and the Community Radio Fund of Canada (CRFC) issued a joint statement today asking for greater recognition of community media as a vital broadcasting sector within the context of the federal government’s proposed overhaul of the Broadcasting Act.
“Community media is the third pillar of Canadian broadcasting, alongside private and public broadcasting, yet there is no description of its role in the new Act that’s been tabled,”…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – Netflix’s announcement last Thursday that it will open a Canadian office and, in the words Ted Sarandos (above), co-CEO and chief content officer, hire a “dedicated content executive to work directly with the Canadian creative community” is a “first good step,” federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh told Cartt.ca in an interview on Friday.
His concern, though, is the “cozy relationship” the federal government appears to have with major digital platforms, including Netflix.
Singh referred to the “secret deal” between the California-based company and Ottawa in 2017 in which then-Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly provided little…
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By Doug Bingley
AS A RADIO BROADCASTER, I’ve seen governments and their policies to support Canadian culture come and go. The formation of the CRTC in 1968 ushered in an era where a key goal was to ensure Canadian artists and Canadian content creators receive the exposure they deserve.
Creating and supporting Canadian content remains an important part of the work I do today, through the three stations I own in Ontario. I am proud of the creative output of our talented staff; I see how important our stations have become to the communities we serve, and equally important, how we…
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