Ontario, Quebec firms dominate first decade of Bell Fund

Interactive media firms from Ontario and Quebec have developed more than 85% of all Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund-sponsored projects on nearly 89% of the fund's grants. The Bell Fund's 2007 annual report reflects back on its first decade of new media support and reveals the cross-platform content industry is still highly concentrated. Since its inception in 1997, the Bell Fund has allocated $57,313,304 to 602 different digital media or development projects. Ontario firms developed 286 of those projects, followed by Quebec with 231. Atlantic Canadian interactive media firms finished a distant third with 33 projects, followed by companies from the prairies with 31, BC with 20, and one international recipient. Additional Bell Fund information suggests this trend is likely to continue. As part of its 10th anniversary, last year the fund announced 10 rising new media talents to watch as part of its internship program. Of these 10 interns, four were placed with firms in Quebec, three with companies in Ontario, two in BC and one in Alberta. Over the past 10 years the bulk of the Bell Fund has been distributed to 401 interactive media installations associated with television programs, and TV shows themselves. The following chart shows the exact breakdown of production grants. Number of Projects Grants (millions) English French Total English French Total Interactive Media 150 87 237 $27.1 $14.6 $41.7 51% 28% 79% Television 104 60 164 $7.3 $3.9 $11.2 14% 7% 21% Total 254 147 401 $34.4 $18.5 $52.9 65% 35% 100% Nearly $4 million of the remaining grant money was awarded to 113 interactive projects through the Development Program, which began in 2001, and the final $500,000 was used for 88 professional development support activities such as conferences, seminars, training and promotion. Development has become an increasingly important aspect of the Bell Fund's mandate over the years, with annual funding for the Development Program doubling between 2002 and 2007. Overall growth in Bell Fund grants portends a bright future for cross-platform content developers. Specifically, annual production grants grew from just less than $5 million in 2005 to more than $10 million last year. It's telling to see that a fund established to close the gap between the television and the Internet continues to grow even though that gap is now essentially non existent. Or as Bell Fund vice-chair Chris Frank writes in the annual report, "Ten years later, ‘programming' has become ‘content,' digital media is no longer ‘new,' ‘platforms' have replaced ‘screens' and the small screen is no longer TV." But the Bell Fund has always been about more than just funding TV program-based web sites; it's encouraged developers to push the boundaries of interactivity. "The opportunity for experimentation has been there every single year," Bell Fund executive director Andra Sheffer told Canadian New Media in October. "Some things have worked and some haven't, but it was the risk-taking and the experimenting that's pretty exciting." "The Bell Fund does not hesitate in taking risks to support the creation of interactive properties that branch into new markets and territories," said Mark Bishop, executive producer and partner at Toronto's marblemedia. "We wanted to create a website for an audience many thought weren't online - the fans of our preschool series This is Daniel Cook. Now several awards later, thanks to the support of the Bell Fund, we haven an international demand for our cross-platform properties for all ages."

Ontario, Quebec firms dominate first decade of Bell Fund

Broadcast | April 21, 2008

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