The federal government has renewed the Canadian Television Fund, signing over $100 million for a one-year period only, for fiscal 2001/02. Because Finance Minister Paul Martin declined to bring down a budget for the year beginning April 1, all federally funded programs which were due to expire this month have been renewed for one year, pending word on the Liberals’ budget priorities.

All of which means that the CTF "renewal coalition" – including representatives from private and public broadcasters, cablers, English and French production companies, documentary producers and the lobby for distributors – is still in place pushing for a long-term commitment to the fund.

With the first major submission deadline just passed on Feb. 15, for drama, children’s and performing arts applicants, the fund expects to publicize its decisions mid-March. The Equity Investment Program, administered by Telefilm, allocates 69.9% of English-track funds to drama, 14.1% to children’s and 1.6% to variety/performing arts. In the French EIP envelope, 61.9% goes to drama, 12.6% to children’s and 5% to variety/performing arts.

The ides of March marks the year’s first deadline for doc applicants. The EIP’s English envelope offers 14.4% of its funds to docs, while the French counterpart sets aside 20.5%.

For the Licence Fee Program, administered by the CTF, 63.8% of funds allocated to English-language programming go to drama, 18.8% to children’s, 1.6% to variety and 15.8% to documentary. For monies earmarked for French-track shows, 54.8% goes to drama, 16.1% to children’s, 8.9% to variety and 20.2% to docs. *

-www.canadiantelevisionfund.ca