Heritage fund consolidation extends to TV, new media

Heritage Minister James Moore has announced a plan to consolidate the Canadian Television Fund and the Canadian New Media Fund into one body, saying the move is aimed at sparking the creation of new programming across multiple media platforms.

Moore unveiled the new Canada Media Fund (CMF) in Toronto, from the set of CTV drama Flashpoint, on Monday morning.

Combining the two funds will provide "more money for more creativity and more Canadian content available on more Canadian platforms," Moore told reporters, and private and public media industry leaders from CTV, Bell Video Group, Rogers, Shaw, Vidéotron, CBC and the Writers Guild of Canada.

The government has pledged $134.7 million annually over two years for the CMF, which will begin April 1, 2010.

Four principles guided the government's decision to create the new fund, Moore said.

• Get governance and accountability right, including having a smaller, more independent board to manage the new fund.
• Reward success and require innovation, favouring projects developed in high definition, those likely to have the most success with audiences and those planned for distribution to a minimum of two platforms, including television.
• Focus the investment on what Canadians want, including an emphasis on drama, comedy and children's programming on television, as well as on internet and mobile devices. 
• Level the playing field, encouraging competition among all players, including by removing the guaranteed funding envelope for CBC/Radio-Canada and provincial educational broadcasters.

Moore acknowledged that there will, however, be a guaranteed portion of the new fund earmarked for French-language production.

"The Canada Media Fund will service Canadians better," Moore said.

"[It] will support the content that Canadians want to watch on the platform they choose to watch it."

Monday's consolidation follows a similar Heritage announcement last month about the consolidation of the Canada Magazine Fund and Publications Assistance Program into the Canadian Periodical Fund.

The government needs to "get out of the old structures" in order to upgrade and modernize funding policies, Moore said at Monday's conference.

"Keep your eyes open for more."

Fraser report, CTF crisis cited as factors

Moore referenced several reasons for the funding model change. They included a 2005 report from Auditor General Sheila Fraser that raised concerns about conflicts of interest within the CTF leadership, including the fact that some board members became funding recipients.

He also mentioned the CTF crisis, with cable companies calling for it to be dismantled. Shaw and Vidéotron, which withdrew their financial support of the CTF in December 2006, charged that too much of the financing was being allocated to public or educational broadcasters, and funded unpopular programming.

The creative community argued, however, that while the CTF's management structure needed review, the entity itself was necessary in order to protect the Canadian TV industry in the face of the overwhelming amount of programming from the U.S.

Shaw and Vidéotron resumed payment after former heritage minister Bev Oda ordered a CRTC taskforce to review the CTF. In June 2008, the federal broadcast regulator recommended splitting the CTF into two streams — one for private-sector broadcasters, the other for public-sector broadcasters.

In a related note, the CRTC is currently in the midst of hearings in Gatineau, Que., over new media regulation and funding.

So far, the creative community has largely called for the CRTC to step in to regulate the new media industry and enact a levy on internet service providers, with the funds to go towards supporting Canadian productions created for new media platforms such as the internet and mobile phones.

The ISPs, which began their appearances before the regulator on Monday, object to both regulation and a levy.

Established in 1996 to invest in creating English, French and aboriginal-language Canadian programming, the CTF finances a significant portion of the country's domestically produced TV shows. In 1998, the Canadian New Media Fund, a corresponding entity to support new media, was created.

Cable firms are required to submit about five per cent of their gross revenues to specifically fund the creation of Canadian programming, an agreement they made in return for permission to increase their cable rates in 1993. The fund subsequently set up in 1996 to distribute that money became the CTF.