Three sides of the industry that don’t often see eye to eye were united in agreement as the government finally lifted the curtain on the Canada Media Fund. Unions, cable companies and the feds praised the new $350 million multiplatform fund, shown off on Friday at Toronto’s Metro Convention Centre.

‘Our focus is clear: to promote the production of quality Canadian content and to make it available on multiple platforms,’ Heritage Minister James Moore told the assembled producers and industry leaders. The fund goes into effect April 1.

The bulk of the money — $323 million — will be directed through CMF’s ‘convergent stream,’ which supports TV shows and related digital content (video games, podcasts, etc.), with the emphasis on genres including drama, documentary and performing arts programs. Most of the money will be dispersed to broadcasters through the Performance Envelope Program, similar to the former BPE system.

Organizers say audience success will be a factor when deciding who gets CMF support.

The remainder of the cash will go toward the ‘experimental stream,’ which is meant to spur research and development of interactive content and software applications.

Initial reaction to the fund, which amalgamates the former Canadian Television Fund with the Canada New Media Fund, was positive, though the devil may be in the details. Specific CMF guidelines were unveiled later at a town hall presentation.

‘It’s a good day for Canadian content,’ said CFTPA president and CEO Norm Bolen, adding, ‘We were a conflicted group of people when we started, but in the end we have something that’s going to work.’ The CFTPA was one of the organizations that were involved in cross-country discussions last year on how the new fund would take shape.

Plans for the CMF met sharp criticism from many corners of the industry when they were first announced last spring.

ACTRA national exec director Stephen Waddell says the union’s top priority was met — that the change won’t interfere with current projects. ‘It’s important that there be a smooth transition from the CTF to the CMF,’ Waddell told Playback Daily after the presentation. ‘There are no changes that I think will disrupt the production process this year, which is very positive.’

The CMF is funded by the government and cable and satellite distributors, including Shaw, Rogers Cable, Bell and Cogeco. Complaints from Shaw and Videotron about CTF prompted the overhaul in part.

Rogers vice-chairman Phil Lind, who had been briefed on but had not seen the final guidelines, said the cableco is ‘generally happy’ with the fund.

‘This was an incredible process to put this thing together…we’re hopeful that it’s going to be a good fund,’ he observed.

The CMF will be announcing an outreach program next week, whereby staff will meet with producers across the country to facilitate the application process.