Canada’s Youth Media Alliance (YMA) is urging the CRTC to require Rogers to maintain its support for the Shaw Rocket Fund until at least 2026.<\/p>\n
Rogers has said it will no longer support the Shaw Rocket Fund, a crucial funding tool for the Canadian kids’ media business, as of the end of last month. “The Shaw Rocket Fund has been one of the most important and consistent champions of youth content in our country,” said a statement from the YMA.<\/p>\n
“Families may not always know it, but many of the shows their children watch\u2014on television or online\u2014exist thanks to the Rocket Fund\u2019s unique mandate. For over two decades, it has been the backbone of Canadian children\u2019s production, the only fund of its kind dedicated exclusively to young audiences in both French and English. It has supported the rise of digital platforms, taken bold risks on new forms of storytelling, and given countless creators the chance to reach children where they are\u2014whether on television, YouTube, or emerging platforms. But today, this vital support is in jeopardy.”<\/p>\n
Rogers ending its support for the Shaw Rocket Fund comes at a perilous time for the Canadian kids’ business, the YMA says. WildBrain is closing its kids’ linear channels. Corus, too, will cease distributing Nickelodeon, ABC Spark, Disney XD, Disney Junior and Disney Channel. Qu\u00e9becor\/TVA closed Yoopa last year.<\/p>\n
“Canadian youth media is already in crisis, with major channels shutting down, investments in children\u2019s television dropping by more than a third, and animation production nearly cut in half over the past decade. Without dedicated funding, Canadian children risk losing stories that reflect their lives, their communities, and their languages. They will be left with foreign content\u2014homogenized, disconnected and unable to carry forward our culture and values. We cannot allow an entire generation to be deprived of their own stories.”<\/p>\n
In a joint statement, Athena Georgaklis and Maria Kennedy, co-presidents of the YMA, noted: \u201cOur industry is hurting right now, and children\u2019s content is being hit the hardest. It is a profound mistake for major players and funders to step away from children\u2019s programming that is produced with education, child safety and development in mind. Consider the unsafe and potentially dangerous content targeting our youth that could fill the void. Children are our future. To deprioritize them is to undermine Canada\u2019s cultural future itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
YMA is calling on the CRTC to intervene until a “sustainable long-term solution is secured” for Rogers’ withdrawal of funding.<\/p>\n
Since 2015\/2016, investment in Canadian children\u2019s television has dropped by almost 36 percent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Canada’s Youth Media Alliance (YMA) is urging the CRTC to require Rogers to maintain its support for the Shaw Rocket Fund until at least 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[2027,11406,865,2397],"class_list":["post-30379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-top-stories","tag-crtc","tag-rogers","tag-shaw-rocket-fund","tag-youth-media-alliance","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n