Canadian Television Fund

The Canadian Television Fund (CTF) supported the production and broadcast of Canadian television programs. A non-profit corporation operating as a public-private partnership, the CTF was financed by contributions from the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Canadian cable and direct-to-home satellite industries.

The CTF developed and implemented policies to offer financial contributions to Canadian producers through specific program funding streams. File administration of these programs was contracted to the Television Business Unit at Telefilm Canada.

On 1 April 2010, the Canadian Television Fund became the Canada Media Fund after merging with the "Canada New Media Fund".

The Department of Canadian Heritage sets out objectives for the CTF within a Contribution Agreement. The main goal of the CTF is to support the creation and broadcast in peak viewing hours of high-quality Canadian television programs in both official languages in the genres of Drama, Children's and Youth, Documentary, and Variety and Performing Arts, and to build audiences for these programs.

The CTF must also:

The CTF provides financing for the development, production and broadcast of Canadian-made programming in French, English and Aboriginal languages in the following genres: Drama, Children's and Youth, Documentary, and Variety and Performing Arts. 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.

Eligible projects must meet the following four Essential Requirements (4ER) before they can be submitted for consideration to any stream of funding (with the exception of 2ER documentaries):

The level of the CTF's contribution to a production varies by genre, language and the stream of funding through which the contribution is obtained. Each funding stream may provide a mix of licence fee top-ups and equity investments, according to a set formula.

NB: Some contributions may take forms other than equity or licence fee top-up, such as grants or advances.

In 1994, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) proposed establishing a funding initiative that would focus on facilitating the production and broadcast of high-quality Canadian television programs in under-represented categories during peak viewing periods. Its revenues were to come from contributions by broadcasting distribution undertakings (i.e., cable and direct-to-home satellite providers) at a certain percentage of their revenues. What follows is a brief history of the Canadian Television Fund (CTF):

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