New media content providers are getting a $2-million boost from the Canadian Television Fund.

Designed to help TV shows backed by the CTF, the Digital Media Pilot Program will finance at least 20 digital new media productions, with a $100,000 cap per project. Funds will be dispersed to eligible Canadian productions on a first-come, first-served basis.

‘Aligning television programs with websites, webisodes, and mobisodes, allows producers to connect with their audiences in a more interactive way,’ Valerie Creighton, president of the CTF, said in a statement. ‘Storyline extensions, viewer feedback and behind the scene information can now be simultaneously shared with viewers on more than one medium, enhancing viewer experiences.’

Applications will be administered by Telefilm Canada on behalf of the CTF, and will be accepted from Oct. 15 until Feb. 13. Eligible programs include those that are currently on TV or in production.

CTF met extensively with the industry before establishing the program, which isn’t connected to Telefilm’s Canada New Media Fund.

Since the Conservative government announced its $45 million in cuts to arts and culture programs in August, there have been conflicting reports in the press as to the future of the Telefilm fund.

On Wednesday, the Department of Canadian Heritage refuted a story published Tuesday in Montreal’s French-language daily Le Devoir that indicated that the CNMF would be discontinued. On its website, Heritage said that no decision had been made to eliminate CNMF, which is up for renewal March 31, 2009.

‘The CNMF has been a very confusing issue. There have been lots of different signals going out,’ said CFTPA CEO Guy Mayson. ‘New media is an extremely important part of the production sector. It’s really important that it’s renewed and expanded. I was pleased to hear that no decision had been made.’

Although Mayson is pleased with the CTF’s new pilot program for new media, he believes the fund shouldn’t be burdened with too many responsibilities. ‘We need a coherent strategy. New media funding needs to be strengthened dramatically,’ he tells Playback Daily.

The CRTC’s CTF task force released a report this past summer which called for the fund to be split into one ratings-driven stream and another for the public broadcasting. The report also supports the establishment of a funding stream for new media that would come entirely from new sources, such as benefits packages, equity investments or use of the flexible part of broadcaster envelopes.

Both the CFPTA and its Quebec equivalent, the APFTQ, want the federal government to clarify its position on the future of the fund.