CRTC opens production funds, ‘recognizes the validity of new media content’

The CRTC issued a new regulatory policy Tuesday that gives independent production funds the option to put up to 10 per cent of their dollars toward stand-alone new media projects—a move that observers are calling an important recognition of new media content. “This is the first step in the CRTC recognizing the validity of new media content as a channel for Canadian production and Canadian expression,” David Elder, a communications lawyer with Stikeman Elliott LLP in Ottawa, said in an interview. CRTC regulations require cable and satellite distributors to contribute a portion of their revenues into independent production funds like the Bell Fund or the Shaw Rocket Fund to support Canadian content creation. Andra Sheffer, executive director of the Bell Fund, the Cogeco Program Development Fund and the Independent Production Fund, said the new policy will align the independent funds more closely with the mandate of the Canada Media Fund (CMF). The CMF requires that all projects supported through its main broadcasting fund, the convergent stream, must have a new media component. The fund also includes an experimental stream that allocates $27 million in funding to new media initiatives not necessarily tied to broadcasters. Agnes Augustin, president of the Shaw Rocket Fund, which supports children’s programming, said the flexibility to do more digital programming is important for content aimed at younger demographics. “Our research shows that 53 per cent of teens expect a website their television content,” Augustin told The Wire Report. “That’s a huge number and it’s growing all the time.” Augustin said 93 per cent of Canadian children watch television but that 80 per cent watch content on other platforms. “It’s almost cultural now for kids. It’s not just entertainment, it’s a way of life.” Kelly Lynne Ashton, director of policy with the Writers Guild of Canada, said in an interview Tuesday that the new regulation's 10 per cent cap on new media funding is a good compromise to keep most of the funding focused on broadcast television. Augustin said she would like to see the new media-funding component for independent production funds eventually move in the same direction as the CMF’s experimental stream, where a project does not necessarily need to be associated with a broadcaster. “Hopefully we’ll see that as perhaps the next step,” Augustine said. According to the new policy, independent production funds must provide the new media funding through broadcasters. That means webisodes or gaming projects independent of broadcasters can’t receive money through the funds. Sheffer said that even with the obligation to partner with Canadian broadcasters, the CRTC decision will provide funds with more flexibility. “That could mean that, for the first time, we’re funding things like a web series that might go on Showcase.ca but doesn’t have an associated television program,” Sheffer said. “As content changes we really think this is the right direction to go.” Ashton said that, because broadcasting distributors contribute to the funds, the money should stay within the broadcasting system. “The BDU contributions, by law, have to go toward supporting the Canadian broadcasting system,” Ashton said. “These are monies coming from the regulated space. It’s BDU contributions. So I think it made sense that the CRTC ensured that that money was going to be regulated content.” Sheffer said she can see how the cable and satellite distributors would object to opening up the funds to projects outside of the broadcasting sector. “It would be difficult for them to swallow—that their money is being used basically for a competitive platform,” Sheffer said. “Why would they be funding projects that aren’t on their television service in some way? I understand that.” The CRTC’s new policy also permits the funds to support projects at the development stage, prior to production. “In the past we could only use them for the production of projects,” Sheffer said. Ashton said projects that receive more funding at the development stage tend to me more successful with audiences. “We are firm believers in development,” Ashton said. “The ability to allocate more funds to the development of new media projects will just ensure that those projects are more successful with their audiences.” Although new media remains exempted from regulation, on Aug. 13, 2010, the CRTC established new reporting requirements for digital media programming affiliated with traditional, licensed broadcasters, like CTV, CBC and Global Television. The commission is setting up a new media reporting working group to establish how new media revenues and expenditures will be reported. Elder said that, overall, the CRTC’s decision is significant. “Obviously, new media has an increasing profile and the commission has been gradually recognizing that maybe new media is a tool that can be used to fulfill the objectives of the Broadcasting Act,” he said. jmigneault@thewirereport.ca

CRTC opens production funds, ‘recognizes the validity of new media content’

Broadcast | November 10, 2010

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