Cuts at Telefilm

Telefilm Canada has laid off six of its permanent full-time staff, including analyst Keith Clarkson, blaming the cuts on its administrative budget. The layoffs will take effect by the end of March.

‘We have very little latitude… and unfortunately had to make some unfortunate decisions,’ says spokesperson Jeanine Basile. Clarkson was responsible for analyzing applications to the multimedia fund. Telefilm says the cuts will not affect its multimedia efforts.

Fourteen IT consultants also recently left the agency when their contracts were not renewed. All had been involved with in-house projects that are now complete, says Basile.

Strong year-end for AAC fund

Alliance Atlantis Communications’ movie distribution partnership achieved a net income of $60.4 million on revenues of $522.5 million in the year ending Dec. 31, 2004, up from earnings of $54.6 million on $410.5 million the year prior. Revenues were also up, 19%, at its Momentum Pictures in the U.K., which generated 18% of the partnership’s revenues. Spanish unit Aurum Producciones, purchased in May 2004, contributed 12%. Net debt fell to $11.3 million from $24.9 million a year earlier.

The Motion Picture Distribution Limited Partnership is owned 51% by AAC and 49% by the Movie Distribution Income Fund, an income trust spun off from AAC in October 2003.

U.S. bid for PrideVision

California-based Q Television Network, programming to gay and lesbian communities across the U.S., announced on March 18 that it has put in a bid to buy Toronto-based PrideVision TV. The offer comes just two years after the digital was sold by Headline Media Group to a consortium led by broadcaster Bill Craig. Like many digital channels, PrideVision has struggled since its 2001 launch, losing $1.3 million in 2003, according to the CRTC. It switched to an all-porn lineup earlier this year while also spawning a talkative sister channel.

Rebranding at CHUM

CHUM Television plans to rebrand its NewNet stations as A-Channels in time for the fall season. The channels will share a common name and creative elements, as well as programming, and include The New VR in Barrie, The New RO in Ottawa, The New PL in London and The New VI in Victoria. The names bring the stations in line with the remaining and original A-Channels in the Prairies that CHUM picked up when it bought Craig Media. The move leaves CHUM with two distinct brands for its local stations – six A-Channel and five Citytv stations.