Government Incentives Foster Canadian Content

The Canadian Television Fund (CTF) continues to foster the growth of TV production in Canada and has been expanding its remit to include new-media content.

For 2008-09, financing from the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) brought about 475 productions and 325 development projects, with total budgets of more than C$943 million ($812 million) and C$18 million ($15.5 million), respectively. The result was the creation of 2,210 hours of new Canadian programming, much of which is primed for international export.

"We did fund a greater number of productions in that year because we dispersed 12 percent more funding compared to the average of the prior four years," explains Valerie Creighton, the president and CEO of the CTF. 

"The other interesting thing," says Creighton, "is that we expanded our support in terms of moving toward more support for new media, through our Digital Media Pilot Program. It was a C$2 million ($1.7 million) program last year. The funds were allocated within the first six weeks, and that money supported 20 English and 10 French productions."

In previous years, CTF’s contribution agreement with the Department of Canadian Heritage restricted funding to support only television programming. Meaning, the new-media projects funded last year were tied to a TV production that the CTF had already financed, coming in the way of mobile content or websites related to a show. But this all changes in 2010, with the establishment of the Canadian Media Fund (CMF).

"We had always envisioned being able to open up that program to a wider use of application that isn’t just associated with TV," says Creighton. "We’ll be able to do that next year, once the CMF is actually launched on April 1."

The CMF will essentially be an amalgamation of two programs, both supported by the federal government: The Canada New Media Fund, which was set up by the federal government and administered by Telefilm Canada, and the Canadian Television Fund, which functions with a combination of support from the federal government and BDUs (broadcasting distribution undertakings, meaning contributions from cable and DTH providers). Now, the federal government is setting up a single fund for Canadian content creation, with one pot of money that’s both for TV and new media.

"We think it’s pretty exciting," says Creighton, "because, as far as we can tell, there’s no place in the world where there’s a single content fund for both TV and new media."

One part of the pot will be used to continue the production of Canadian TV programming, which has been increasing its traction in various parts of the world. Then, an experimental part of the fund will be set aside as a place for "the stuff that’s way out there" in its creative scope, helping to lead Canada into the future of content creation. Creighton explains, "We want to reward the results of great television programming but we also seek to support and develop a place of innovation, where content creators can come to that stream in the fund with any kind of idea. Eventually, with enough support there, you might just get that groundbreaking model that will actually be successful as a model in non-linear content support…. I think this fund is a great place to allow for that kind of experimentation, which could trigger the next major format, whatever that might be."