New media industry calls for $30 million for interactive projects in Canada Media Fund

The new Canada Media Fund (CMF) should allocate at least $30 million to interactive projects if the fund’s managers want to support the digital industry, Ian Kelso, president of the Canadian Interactive Alliance (CIAIC), said in an interview. Set for its official launch on April 1, the CMF is an amalgamation of the Canadian Television Fund (CTF), which supports TV programs, and the Canada New Media Fund (CNMF), which supports interactive digital projects. “We’ve been arguing you have to dramatically increase the $14 million to at least $30 million if you want to have the effect that the policy from the minister intends,” Kelso said. Canadian Heritage announced the new all-in fund last March as a way to support Canadian new media programming on a more diverse set of media devices, from TVs, to mobile handsets and computers. The CMF will have two streams, sources say. A convergent stream will support joint TV-new media projects; a second experimental stream dedicates funds for new media-only projects. The convergent stream will have more money than the experimental stream. Canadian Heritage allocated $14.3 million to the CNMF for the 2009-10 year to support interactive digital content projects. But Kelso said the new CMF has to step that up. “Is $14 million adequate?” he asked, explaining that the CNMF couldn’t fund high-budget projects such as video games, which can cost multiple millions of dollars to produce. The CTF had more than $300 million to allocate, he said. It’s too soon to say exactly how much money the CMF will offer, and how much will go to each stream, said Valerie Creighton, president of the CTF, which is managing the transition to the CMF. The fund receives contributions from Canadian Heritage and broadcast distribution companies such as BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., and Shaw Communications Inc. “We’re just in the process of completing our year-end statistics, but we expect it to be between $325 and $350 million, as far as allocating money for programs,” Creighton said. She added that the CTF conducted an extensive consultation process that included numerous regional meetings and national events to bring together everyone involved, including new media representatives, unions, producers, and broadcasters. The consultation process began last fall, and helped reduce concerns from the digital media industry that the TV industry would control the fund. Creighton said the TV sector was worried too. “The TV industry had concerns that the digital guys would come in and take all of the money ... The great thing about the consultation process was that everybody was at the table having that discussion.” Kelso agreed, but noted, “We were a little bit outnumbered in the room. There are three of us from interactive media”—and perhaps 30 from the TV industry. But between Kelso, Pierre Proulx, general manager of Alliance Numérique, representing Quebec’s new media industry, and Marc Beaudet, president of Regroupement des Producteurs de Multimédia (RPM), serving Quebec’s multimedia industry, the new media sector made its voice heard, Kelso said. “I think the CMF staff have gone out of their way listen to what we’re saying,” Kelso said. “What we’ve heard in feedback ... has strongly reflected many of the arguments we’ve been making.” In preparation for the official launch, the CTF has also engaged Léger Marketing to conduct a survey of CMF stakeholders about the fund’s communications tools and procedures. The survey closes Feb. 12. Norm Bolen, president and CEO of the Canadian Film & Television Production Association (CFTPA), said that he figures creation of the CMF is necessary. The new fund might help the TV industry get more involved in interactive entertainment, which is growing rapidly. He said his group’s main concern is to shift prudently from an old modus operandi to a new one. “The new model doesn’t have much of a business case at this point,” Bolen said. "Advertisers still seem to favour TV over the web, for now. But there’s no denying that web advertising is growing. People on the TV side would like a reasonable balance.” Bolen and Kelso agreed that the team managing the consultation process deserves credit. “The CMF staff did an amazing job herding cats,” Kelso said. “It was a very constructive process, and they managed it very well.”

New media industry calls for $30 million for interactive projects in Canada Media Fund

Broadcast | February 12, 2010

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