Dire predictions came true on April 14 when the Canadian Television Fund rejected 64% of the drama, kids and variety programs in line for LFP cash – backing only 73 of the 202 applicants and panicking both broadcasters and producers. CTF snubbed many major projects, including CBC’s Friday night comedies and CTV’s MOWs for ’03/04.

Funding from the Licence Fee Program totaled just $75.3 million, down from $111 million given to 154 shows this time last year. The shortfall could nix as many as 300 hours of new Canadian programming this year.

CTF blames the drop on both loss of revenue and an ever-increasing flood of applications. ‘Funding requests far surpassed the money we had available,’ says president and CEO Sandra Macdonald. The funding agency lost $25 million early this year in the federal budget and roughly $5 million due to reduced private contributions. Unlike previous years, CTF had no reserve cash.

CTF warned earlier this month that it was oversubscribed, raising fears among broadcast and production execs that a very large axe was about to fall. This year also saw the introduction of the fund’s controversial Broadcaster Priorities system, which some also blame for the oddball results.

TV-makers say the shortfall could have catastrophic results on the industry, killing off shows and thousands of jobs. ‘We have been devastated and shows with proven track records may go off the air,’ says CFTPA president and CEO Elizabeth McDonald.

‘This is not good news and it demonstrates that the system does not work,’ says CBC executive director, network programming Slawko Klymkiw. None of the net’s Friday night comedies – The Red Green Show, An American in Canada or The Sean Cullen Show – got CTF cash.

‘And for all the chest-beating about Canadian drama, there are at least 12 CBC drama projects not backed by LFP,’ Klymkiw adds. ‘At this point it’s an open question how many of those projects will go on the air. We’re going to have to wait for the EIP decisions and then we’re going to have to have a hard-headed look at what we can and cannot save.

‘This is going to have dire consequences for smaller productions. I don’t know how they’re going to survive,’ he adds.

Of English- and French-language productions, dramas got $52.8 million, kids shows drew $17.4 million and $5.1 million went to variety and performing arts.

Approved projects include: new seasons of Bliss (Galafilm Productions), Blue Murder (Barna-Alper), Cold Squad (Keatley MacLeod), Da Vinci’s Inquest (Barna-Alper/Haddock), Paradise Falls (Breakthrough Films and Television), Puppets Who Kill (Radical Sheep Productions), Trailer Park Boys (Topsail Productions), FranCoeur (R. Charbonneau Productions) and Degrassi: The Next Generation (Epitome Pictures). CBC’s follow-up to Trudeau (Big Motion Pictures), CTV’s new anthology series Keys Cut Here (Omni Film/Creative Atlantic) and The Toronto Show (Breakthrough Films and Television), the flagship variety series at toronto|one, also got the nod.

CTV senior VP Bill Mustos calls the results ‘baffling’ and ‘perverse.’ His net lost funding on more than two-thirds of its projects, including all seven MOWs and The Eleventh Hour. He hopes funds from CTF’s Equity Investment Program, due in May, could save some projects. ‘The EIP has a major role now; what they do will make a major difference in terms of what’s going ahead next year… Until then, we have to sit tight and see what happens.’ Seventy percent of LFP applicants also put in for EIP cash this year.

Loren Mawhinney, vice-president of Canadian production at CanWest Global, says her network could have trouble meeting its regional targets if the LFP documentary funds, also due in May, are equally low. ‘But I don’t think it’s the end of the industry, the end of the world or the end of production in this country,’ she says. Only two of CWG’s four applications were rejected – both of them regional variety shows in Quebec.

‘We’ve had some very emotional reactions, but I think there are other alternatives people can explore without going to the fund.’ Running shows in-house, as with Popstars, is one example.

And they may have to, according to Sandra Macdonald, because the EIP is also oversubscribed. ‘It has the same funding gap as [the LFP] and certainly it’s going to have a very high rejection rate too.’

Both the CFTPA and the APFTQ held emergency press conferences, calling for an immediate restoration of the missing $25 million.

‘There is no ‘next week,’ there is no ‘next month’ – it has to happen now,’ says Eleventh Hour co-creator Semi Chellas. Many also called for a complete overhaul of the funding system.

But Macdonald defends CTF and its decisions. ‘It’s never been policy that all projects that anyone wants to make, or that any broadcaster wants to put on the air, should be funded by the taxpayer,’ she says. ‘Never in my life have I seen a funding system that everybody liked.’

Finance Minister John Manley told Canadian Press that the remaining ‘$75 million is better than zero,’ and a ministry spokesperson cast further doubt on any chances of a last-minute white knight. It has always been Ottawa’s stated plan, says Chris Heggtveit, to back out of CTF after a few years.

‘The government contribution was only to kick start the fund, so it could be phased out as private contributions grew,’ he says. ‘The government belief is that the Canadian film and TV industry is innovative enough and competitive enough to stand on its own two feet.’ Representatives from the Ministry of Canadian Heritage were not available for comment.