The Canadian Television Fund had created a production incentive with the goal of balancing the distribution of financial support to productions across the country and encouraging production where volumes have declined significantly. The CTF will monitor production activity in Atlantic Canada; Quebec; Ontario and Nunavut; the Prairies; and British Columbia and the Yukon and Northwest Territories. If production activity falls below 20% of a five year average in any area, the CTF may implement the production incentive in that area in the following fiscal year. The first production areas to benefit from this $5 million incentive include Atlantic Canada and Quebec, where production activity fell below the target level in 2007-2008. As such, two separate CTF allocations of $2.2 million and $2.8 million have been created for productions based in Quebec and Atlantic Canada, respectively, for 2008-2009. For more information, visit the CTF website or click here.

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Telus Corp. is the latest company to dispute the appropriateness of the CRTC‘s ruling on deferral accounts. The company filed a Part VII late last month requesting the commission overturn certain portions of the decision.

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The Canadian Television Fund last week announced an additional $12 million in funding has been made available for productions applying for funding during the 2008-09 fiscal year. This additional investment in Canadian production is a result of final calculations of 2007-2008 project commitments at the close of the fiscal year on March 31, 2008. The amount will be split between English-, French- and Aboriginal-language productions. As a result, the CTF is recalculating envelopes for each broadcaster. Broadcasters will receive new allocation letters to reflect their adjusted envelopes.

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Toronto-based Shaftesbury Films‘ youth comedy series Life with Derek last week was awarded this year’s Shaw  Rocket Prize. Shaftesbury Films will divide the award’s $50,000 purse between the Canadian Film Centre, to be used on a kids’ TV writing and producing intern program; PREVNet (Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network), a coalition of Canadians concerned about bullying; and Life with Derek creator Daphne Ballon. Life with Derek airs on Family in Canada, and has also been translated into 19 languages and airs in more than 115 countries worldwide. "We are thrilled that Life with Derek has been awarded the Shaw Rocket Prize and congratulate Christina and her team on this achievement," said Kevin Wright, senior VP of programming, Astral Television Networks. "This smart and entertaining series continues to rank as one of the most popular on Family Channel and we are proud of the series’ ongoing success both here in Canada and around the world."

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