Canadian Television Fund

The Canadian Television Fund (CTF) supports the production and broadcast of high-quality Canadian television programs. Operating as a public-private partnership, the CTF is financed by contributions from the Government of Canada and the Canadian cable and direct-to-home satellite industries.

Eligibility Criteria

The Fund focuses its support on currently licensed projects intended primarily for Canadian audiences and seeks to encourage Canadian viewing of these productions. These projects must be initiated by Canadian companies, under Canadian ownership, who exercise creative and financial control from development through production to distribution and exhibition.

The Fund is a cultural programming fund. It does not support "industrial" or "foreign service" productions nor those that cede control to foreign entities.

Eligible Activities

Eligible projects must meet the following four Essential Requirements (4ER) before they can be submitted for consideration to any stream of funding:

• the project speaks to Canadians about and reflects Canadian themes and subject matter;
• the project will be certified by the Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office (CAVCO) and has achieved 10/10 points (or the maximum number of points appropriate to the project), as determined by the CTF using the CAVCO scale;
• underlying rights are owned and significantly developed by Canadians;
• the project is shot and primarily set in Canada.

Summary

Television plays a vital role in Canada's cultural landscape; it allows us to share experiences, build community and celebrate differences. Creating and showcasing Canadian programming has become a fundamental principle of Canada's broadcasting policy.

Responsibilities
The main goal of the CTF is to provide financing for the creation and broadcast in peak viewing hours of high-quality Canadian television programs in both official languages in the genres of drama, children and youth programs, documentary, and variety and performing arts, and to build audiences for these programs.

The CTF must also:

• allocate one-third of its resources to French-language programming and two-thirds to English-language programming;
• support the production of Aboriginal-language programming;
• encourage production by majority and minority official-language sectors;
• provide incentives for regionally-based productions;
• set aside an envelope to support French-language productions from producers outside of Quebec;
• implement a mechanism that enhances access to the CTF by programs supported by educational broadcasters;
• provide developmental support, including script and pilot development;
• allocate an envelope for programs licensed by CBC/Société Radio-Canada;
• ensure appropriate levels of market access for broadcaster-affiliated production companies and independent production companies, with no competitive advantage in French or English broadcast markets;
• support language versioning and subtitling.

Funding
The CTF provides four types of contributions to projects:

• repayable advances (development);
• grants (versioning);
• licence fee top-ups (production); and
• equity investments (production).

The CTF makes financial contributions through five funding streams:

• Broadcaster Performance Envelopes;
• Development;
• French-language Projects Outside Quebec;
• Aboriginal-language Projects; and
• Versioning Assistance.

Bottom Line
By fostering the growth of television production in Canada through financial investment and industry research, the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) supports the development of Canadian talent, programs and audiences. CTF-supported productions have cultivated thousands of jobs in the Canadian television sector.

Newfoundland and Labrador Contact(s):
See National Contact.

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National Contact(s):
Mr. Phil Sullivan
Research Coordinator
Canadian Television Fund
50 Wellington Street East, 4th floor
Toronto, Ontario  M5E 1C8
Telephone: 416-214-4463
Toll-free (information): 1-877-975-0766
E-mail: psullivan@ctf-fct.ca
Web site: http://www.canadiantelevisionfund.ca/