More than a dozen members of the Quebec television sector have issued an open letter calling for greater government contributions to the Canada Media Fund (CMF), as well as a greater allocation of the budget put toward French-language content.

The letter, obtained by Playback Daily, is dated Nov. 11 and addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland and Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge.

Specifically, the letter asks the federal government to double its annual contribution of $134.1 million ahead of the Fall Economic Statement and to increase the share of the French-language budget to 40%, which it states will require $38 million in funding.

In March 2023, the federal government allocated an additional $40 million in funding to CMF, which was also intended to increase funding for French-language content.

In the 2023-24 fiscal year, the federal government contributed an estimated $174.1 million to the CMF. That is broken down into its $134.1 million base investment, $20 million in support for equity-deserving groups and another $20 million for French-language content. Lastly, it includes up to $42.5 million in stabilization funding to offset declining revenues from BDUs. With that stabilization, the contribution stood at $216.6 million.

The letter sets out a proposed division of the additional $134 million in funding, which includes another $42.5 million to double the current stabilization fund to $85 million. Another $30 million would be put toward equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility envelopes and $23.5 million to create a dedicated envelope for children and youth content.

The 15 signatories include A Média founder Guillaume Lespérance; Zone3 Media president and executive producer Brigitte Lemonde; Pixcom’s president and producer Nicola Merola; Groupe Fair-Play co-founder Guy Villeneuve; Just For Laughs Entertainment Group president and CEO Sylvain Parent-Bédard; and KOTV president Louis Morissette.

This letter comes only a week after another open letter signed by 1,388 members of the Canadian film and television industry on Nov. 7 urging the federal government to permanently increase Telefilm Canada funding to $50 million in the upcoming statement.

“The government is continuing to work to modernize the tools that support Canada’s audiovisual sector and remains attentive to the numerous challenges faced by all stakeholders in the audiovisual sector,” a Canadian Heritage spokesperson told Playback Daily last week (Nov. 13).

The 2024 Fall Economic Statement is expected to be tabled later this month.

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