TORONTO and OTTAWA – Television industry stakeholders continue to weigh in on the new Canada Media Fund (CMF) announced Monday.
CTV said in a statement that they “welcomed” the Fund, and “applauded the proposal (for) striking down antiquated rules that prevented broadcaster investment in the creation of high-quality Canadian programs for both broadcast and digital platforms.”
"Congratulations to Minister Moore for recognizing the importance of audience success and for putting the audience first in the creation of this fund. All of us in media exist to serve the audience," said Ivan Fecan, president and CEO of CTVglobemedia, in the statement.
Even CBC threw its support behind the CMF in theory, despite it not containing financial aid for the struggling public broadcaster, as many had speculated.
"CBC/Radio-Canada is encouraged that the Government believes first-run, prime time Canadian programming is as important as we think it is," said Hubert Lacroix, president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, in a company announcement. "The new Fund is designed to make sure that Canadians have access to more of the popular drama, comedy and children’s programming that they want to watch, when, how and where they want to watch it. More of that can only benefit Canadians and the Canadian broadcasting system."
The Canadian Television Fund (CTF) was a little more muted in its praise, thanking Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, James Moore, for the government’s “confidence in the sector”, and declaring that the Fund’s “financial commitment recognizes the important contribution of the production industry to Canada’s economy and of the thousands of Canadians employed in this sector.”
But despite the feeling of cautious optimism, some feel that are still some key issues that need addressing.
The Canadian Interactive Alliance / l’Alliance interactive canadienne (CIAIC), for one, is concerned that the structure of the CMF’s seven member board may “work to defeat” the Fund’s first principle – getting governance and accountability right – rather than fulfill it.
“I think the interactive digital media community should be concerned that two board members will be nominated by the Government of Canada, with the remainder being named by the five largest private-sector funding partners – in other words, the licensed broadcasting distribution undertakings,” said CIAIC president Ian Kelso, in a statement. He added that without formal representation from the interactive digital media industry, the CMF and its board “could miss fulfilling its mandate to be future-friendly and flexible.”
Saying its concerns are “heightened” now that in-house television broadcaster projects may apply for funding, (such productions were ineligible under the old Canadian Television Fund rules), and given that some broadcasters are owned by the very distributors eligible to nominate CMF board appointments, it raised the flag of conflict of interest.
“Given this board structure, we believe the new Fund’s decision-makers could struggle to find a balance between traditional television and interactive content, and in allocating funding in keeping with the latter’s increasingly important role in today’s media,” Kelso continued.
Industry-wide consultation into the CMF’s guidelines is scheduled to begin this Spring.
– By Lesley Hunter
