Bell ExpressVu and Cogeco have pledged to maintain their support of the Canadian Television Fund following the abrupt departure of media giant Quebecor, which on Tuesday sided with Shaw Communications by pulling its support from the troubled agency.

‘We will continue to provide financial support as we have agreed to do,’ Bell ExpressVu spokesperson Paolo Pasquini told Playback Daily. ‘We support the initiative that the fund is designed to do and of course we remain very involved in ensuring that it is maximized to the highest level.’

Cogeco and Atlantic cable provider EastLink also say they plan to stand by CTF, which provides crucial funding to numerous domestic productions.

Quebecor, owner of cable company Videotron and the TVA network, pulled its support amid complaints similar to those of Shaw, which in December withdrew its annual contribution – amounting to around $56 million – and demanded a detailed account of the ratings and revenue earned by CTF-backed shows. Videotron contributed $14.3 million to the fund in 2005.

‘There’s solidarity with Shaw because the issues they’re raising are pretty much the same ones that make us unhappy,’ says Quebecor EVP Luc Lavoie.

But APFTQ president and CEO and CTF board member Claire Samson is firing back at both dissenting cablers, saying the CTF will not be ‘held hostage,’ and raising the possibility of legal action.

‘We feel that for the distributors to contribute to the fund is not a selective option – it is a rule [mandated] by the CRTC,’ Samson says, adding that CTF ‘has retained the services of legal advisers.’

Cable and satellite operators are required by CRTC regulations to contribute 5% of their revenues to CTF.

Noting that the impact of Shaw and Videotron’s financial pullout is ‘tremendous,’ Samson says the APFTQ has asked Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Department of Canadian Heritage to support the CRTC in making sure it has all the tools necessary to implement its rules.

No meeting between the CTF and either Shaw or Videotron has been scheduled.

Samson adds that the fund’s board members have suspended their annual retreat for strategic planning in order to deal with the issue.

Quebecor is upset that Radio-Canada, the French sister of CBC, is acquiring and filling its airwaves with U.S. shows such as Desperate Housewives and Lost. ‘Since when should I be forced to subsidize Hollywood?’ Lavoie asks.

Quebecor also takes issue with the CTF not recognizing the role of video-on-demand in the financing of Canadian shows.

‘To get funding from the CTF you must have a signed agreement with a broadcaster. Well, we’re saying video-on-demand is a broadcaster because the technology is such that now television is going to be on-demand,’ says Lavoie.

Lavoie is calling on Heritage Minister Bev Oda to convene a meeting of stakeholders to ‘kick-start a process whereby we can have full accountability.’

‘We’re quite willing to help quality Canadian productions, but it’s quite different from being a candy store where everyone is coming by and taking what they want,’ he says.

Calls for comment to Heritage and cable giant Rogers were not returned.