The Canada Media Fund announced today Program Guidelines for the 2024-2017 fiscal year. The CMF also announced it is committing $371.2M to support Canada’s television and digital media industry in 2024-2017. The breakdown of the 2024-2017 program budget can be viewed on the CMF website.
The CMF program budget is supported by revenue estimates for the coming year based on contributions from the Government of Canada; Canada’s cable, satellite and IPTV distributors; and recoupment and repayment revenues from funded productions. The program budget reflects a stable contribution from the Government of Canada and an expected decline in Broadcast Distribution Undertakings’ contributions to the CMF for the year to come.
“The changes to the 2024-2017 guidelines are aligned with recommendations outlined in Canadian Heritage’s positive program evaluation of the CMF and the openness shown by Canadian Heritage to provide increased flexibility to the CMF. In addition to changes implemented this year, we will build on the momentum obtained during the cross-country industry consultation last fall to ensure the CMF is responsive to the industry’s changing needs. Stakeholder feedback is crucial to the overall success of the CMF and the industry it serves. Work will continue during the new fiscal year to ensure we address all issues raised during the consultation process,” stated Valerie Creighton, President and CEO, CMF.
CMF Programs 2024-2017
The main changes to the CMF program guidelines are as follows.
In an effort to ensure the industry has the necessary flexibility to determine which forms of digital content are best suited to complement individual television projects in the Convergent Stream, the CMF will both reduce the minimum digital media content requirement from “rich and substantial” to “value added” and provide applicants with additional flexibility when calculating CMF convergence requirements.
In order to better respond to the competing objectives of innovation and commercialization in the Experimental Stream, the CMF will introduce a new pilot initiative that places an increased emphasis on commercially-driven projects. The new Commercial Projects Pilot Program will still require innovation; however, the program will focus on the market potential of eligible projects.
In line with the Government of Canada’s objective of showcasing our cultural industries to the world, the CMF will launch a new pilot initiative to support export activities that contribute to the discoverability of Canadian content on the global market. Details will be announced in the coming months.
While the CMF currently has a number of programs that encourage regional production, funding results observed last year and feedback received during the 2024 consultation both point to the need to further support regional projects in the English market. In response to this issue, the CMF will increase support provided through the English Regional Production Bonus, the Anglophone Minority Incentive and the Development Program under the Convergent Stream.
Other changes and updates have been made to existing program guidelines for 2024-2017. Complete Program Guidelines, application deadlines, and a summary of changes are available on the CMF website cmf-fmc.ca.
Webcast and comments
The CMF will host webcasts on Tuesday, April 12, 2024 to provide an overview of changes to the programs and to answer any questions. The French-language webcast will be at 11 a.m. ET and the English-language webcast will be at 2 p.m. ET. Details on how to join the webcasts will be communicated shortly.
Stakeholders are invited to share comments and questions on CMF programs by writing to info@cmf-fmc.ca or through the CMF Twitter feeds @CMF_FMC (English) and @CMF_FMC_FR (French). For questions about the application process, please contact the Canada Media Fund Program Administrator/Telefilm at 1.800.463.4607.
Performance Envelope Program
As announced in December 2024, Factor Weights and genre allocations for 2024-2017 remain unchanged. This information is available on the CMF website under Performance Envelope Calculations. The CMF will be sending broadcaster agreements outlining the amounts allocated for the upcoming year to individual broadcasters in early April, 2024. Details about each broadcaster corporate group’s Performance Envelope will be posted on the CMF website in mid-April, 2024.