The Canadian TV and digital media industry is poised to benefit from US$262 million in investment that will be put up by the Canada Media Fund (CMF) in its 2024/2025 fiscal year that began yesterday (April 1).
This annual budget marks a very small decline from what the org invested last year (US$269 million). But despite the drop, CMF is slightly increasing its allocation for children and youth content to 22%—up from 21% in 2023/2024. It will continue to represent the second largest allocation after drama (60% for English, 54% for French) under what’s known as the Broadcast Envelopes.
The CMF system has set up these envelopes to provide a threshold of potential funding for every genre. The 22% target indicates that roughly US$35 million (US$23 million for English, US$12 million for French) will be available for linear broadcasters and broadcaster-owned streaming services in the region to spend on kids content.
However, since it’s up to the broadcasters to trigger envelope spending, it’s uncertain whether this US$35 million will be fully leveraged. For context, a spokesperson for CMF told Kidscreen that despite the 21% target set up for kids content last year, final spending was closer to 11%.
This source reiterated that CMF remains committed to supporting kids content in its role as one of the most prominent funding sources available to Canadian kids producers for development/production. Over the past year alone, it has provided financial support to projects including Billy & the Boingo Band (Big Bad Boo) and Gisele’s Mashup Adventures (Headspinner Productions).
In more promising news, the CMF budget also outlined that its Pilot Program for Racialized Communities—which provides funding for all genres, including kids content—will transition into an ongoing program after a successful pilot run. This initiative was designed to support English and French audiovisual production from prodcos owned by Black people and people of color.
Gangnam Project (Pillango Productions), The Fabulous Show with Fay and Fluffy (Lopii Productions) and 3-2-1 Proto! (Gazelle-Antelope Productions) all made the cut for this funding in 2023, with each one collecting US$405,000.
President and CEO Valerie Creighton notes that CMF is trying to provide more flexibility for the industry—given that it’s still waiting for a new regulatory framework following the approval of Canada’s Online Streaming Act.
It’s been nearly a year since Canada passed the act (known as Bill C-11) into law—granting the CRTC (Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission) regulatory power over online streaming services as well as traditional broadcasters. The move initially sparked optimism from the kids industry, with hopes for more commissions to support local producers and amplify Canadian-made youth media.
Image courtesy of mwangi gatheca via Unsplash