The holidays may be over, but if it’s January in Canada, ’tis the season to talk funding, and news from Rogers Communications will further build the buzz.

With the Canadian Television Fund’s Feb. 15 Licence Fee Program application deadline looming, and everyone wondering how the ctf’s new guidelines will play out, word of Rogers’ new equity fund and of the continuation of a documentary granting program is well-timed.

The new source of money is the Rogers Cable Network Fund, which will provide about $4 million a year – the exact figure will float a bit, since it represents a percentage of the company’s gross revenues – in equity financing to Canadian independent producers for tv programs with a primetime first window on an English-language Canadian cable channel. ‘Cable’ means a licensed Canadian specialty or premium service, including pay and pay-per-view.

The rcnf will invest up to 15% of the total production budget or final cost of eligible projects to a maximum of $250,000 per project.

As it announces the Network Fund, Rogers has more good news: it has made permanent the Rogers Documentary Fund, which has given grants worth $4 million since its 1996 launch. The doc fund will go forward with a minimum of $1 million a year in grants, and counts such projects as 1998’s Sheldon Kennedy – A Story of Human Courage among its most successful recipients.

For the rcnf, eligible genres include drama, documentaries, children’s, educational, instructional, performing arts and variety, and exclude news and sports. Programs must be 30 minutes or more, although a package of children’s shorts equal to a half-hour of programming would also qualify. Projects must have an 8/10 Cancon point ranking from the crtc, with the Canadian applicant holding copyright in the project, controlling the project and being based or operating in Canada.

The addition of the rcnf completes a triumvirate of Rogers funds, adding an equity financing vehicle to the existing grant (doc) fund and the 20-year-old Rogers Telefund, which provides bridge loans.

‘We’re going to be a major player in this [production funding] scenario, as we should be,’ says Phil Lind, vice chairman of Rogers Communications, adding that both the Telefund and the Documentary Fund have been very successful, with $100 million or more loaned via the Telefund to date.

Lind adds that part of the reason Rogers set up the rcnf was because the fund could support programming destined for first-run on cable. While a wide range of genres can receive the fund’s support, the company thought it could give a particular boost to less expensive information-type programs such as cooking shows, which are currently in wide demand, but tricky to fund.

‘We’ve done extensive consultation on this fund. We know there’s a great demand for this fund and we’ll be swamped [with applications] right off the bat,’ says Lind.

A production company which ‘beneficially’ owns more than 10% of a broadcaster is ineligible if the production is destined for the affiliated broadcaster. Prodcos directly or indirectly owned or controlled by a broadcaster, or by the owner of a broadcaster, are ineligible.

The first application deadline for the rcnf is March 7; March 1 is the first deadline for the Documentary Fund.