The Canadian federal government plans to amalgamate the Canadian Television Fund and Canada New Media Fund as a re-branded Canada Media Fund, which could have bad implications for the indie doc-maker, says the Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC).
The Canadian government will invest CDN$134.7 million annually into the fund, which focuses on supporting drama, comedy, children’s programs and digital platforms, with documentaries, variety and performing arts programming only making the cut if “a project can pass a test demonstrating that the market alone would not support its creation,” says the release from the Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage. The Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) has said it will keep a close watch on the CMF and will be vocal in presentations to the government to represent their members’ concerns.
The CTF has invested more than $2.7 billion since 1996 on 27,000 hours of English, French and Aboriginal TV production. Documentaries received almost 20% of the previous fund, which comes to about 40% of all programming hours produced.
