Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund executives hope higher-than-expected contributions to the Small Market Local Programming Fund will create an opportunity to reverse devastating cuts to new media funding in Canada. The Bell Fund and three other bodies that saw their budgets slashed when the CRTC created the small market fund have recently learned that the new fund had $5.98 million in revenues pumped into it from July 16, 2003 to August 31, 2004 – well over what the CRTC envisioned would be needed to accomplish its goals, says Bell Fund executive director Andra Sheffer. As a result, the Bell Fund and the three other funds affected by the diversion of some of their revenues have written to the commission to ask it to re-visit its formula for funding small market local TV programming.

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