Notices

Canada Periodical Fund

• Business Innovation for Digital Periodicals: Deadline Removed
• Minimum Average Price Criteria in 2014-2015 2012-10-01
• Aid to Publishers Funding Formula and Payments for 2012-2013 2012-06-13
• Change to the definition of a listing in 2013-2014 2011-10-27
• Aid to Publishers Funding Formula 2011-2012 2011-08-29
• Aid to Publishers Fact Sheet 2011-08-29
• Payments in 2011-2012 2011-08-29 

Business Innovation for Digital Periodicals: Deadline Removed

Please note there is no longer a deadline to submit an application to the Business Innovation for Digital Periodicals component of the Canada Periodical Fund. It is recommended that applications be submitted at least four months prior to the project start date.

Minimum Average Price Criteria in 2014-2015

2012-10-01

Components: Aid to Publishers (ATP) and Business Innovation for Print Magazines (BI–P)

Implementing the minimum average price criteria in 2014-2015
Beginning in the 2014-2015 funding cycle, eligible ATP and BI-P recipients will be required to meet both minimum average price criteria.

Why implement both minimum average price criteria?
To ensure that the Program supports paid circulation for both subscriptions and single copies sold, which will continue to align with Program objectives.

What are the details?

Prior to Implementation	Price criteria in 2014-2015
ATP and BI-P	ATP and BI-P
Paid circulation - Magazines must:	Paid circulation magazines must meet both price criteria as follows:
Have a minimum average subscription price of $12 per year, or a minimum average price of $1 per copy (by subscription or single-copy)	Subscriptions must be sold at either one of the following prices: at a minimum average subscription price of $12 per year; or at a minimum average subscription price of $1 per copy. and Single copies and newsstand copies must be sold: at a minimum average single-copy price of $1 per copy.
Prior to Implementation	Price criteria in 2014-2015
ATP only	ATP only
Paid circulation - Non-daily newspapers must:	Paid circulation non-daily newspapers must meet both price criteria as follows:
Have a minimum average subscription price of $12 per year, or a minimum average price of $.50 per copy (by subscription or single-copy).	Subscriptions must be sold at either one of the following prices: at a minimum average subscription price of $12 per year; or at a minimum average subscription price of $0.50 per copy. and Single copies and newsstand copies must be sold: at a minimum average single-copy price of $0.50 per copy for non-daily newspapers.

What is the impact?
Implementing the minimum average price criteria could affect whether the periodical is eligible under ATP and BI–P.

Who may be affected?
Paid circulation periodicals with subscription copies sold and single copies sold could be affected. However, certain exemptions exist:

For ATP and BI–P - Magazines
Paid circulation for Aboriginal, official language minority, ethnocultural, and GLBT magazines continue to be exempt from the minimum average price criteria.

For ATP – Non-daily newspapers
Paid circulation for Aboriginal, official language minority and GLBT non-daily newspapers continue to be exempt from the minimum average price criteria.

When will this take effect?
The minimum average price criteria will take effect beginning in the 2014-2015 funding cycle, and be included in the 2014-2015 ATP and BI-P Applicant’s Guides. Furthermore, a Notice to that effect will appear in the 2013-2014 ATP and BI-P Applicant’s Guides.

Where can I get more information?
If you think that your periodical could be affected and would like more information, please contact the Canada Periodical Fund.

How can I provide comments or feedback?
This notice is being given more than a year before implementing the minimum average price criteria to allow applicants sufficient time to manage any possible impacts on the eligibility of their periodicals and to provide comments or feedback. If you have comments or feedback, you may send them in writing before March 15, 2013, to the Canada Periodical Fund.

Aid to Publishers Funding Formula and Payments for 2012-2013

2012-06-13

The funding formula for the Aid to Publishers component in 2012-2013 is the same as the previous year. For information about the formula and estimated funding, please consult the Aid to Publishers Fact Sheet.

The Aid to Publishers formula is being implemented gradually over three years, of which 2012-2013 is the second year. According to the transition plan, returning recipients whose funding amounts are projected to decline since 2010-2011 are having their reductions phased in. Therefore, 35% of the amounts of the reductions was applied in 2011-2012, another 35% is being implemented in 2012-2013, and the new formula will be fully implemented in 2013-2014. Publications whose funding has risen since 2010-2011 are likewise having the increases phased in.

New applicants in either 2011-2012 or 2012-2013 are not affected by the transition plan.

Recipients will receive letters in July 2012 indicating their funding amounts based on the transition plan. Unlike last year’s two-payment strategy, grant recipients for 2012-2013 will receive their full amounts in a single payment.

Change to the definition of a listing in 2013-2014

2011-10-27

Aid to Publishers and Business Innovation

What is changing?

Beginning in the 2013-2014 funding cycle, the definition of a listing will be expanded to include opinions and analysis. 

According to the current definition, a listing that contains opinions and analysis is not considered a listing by the Canada Periodical Fund. According to the new definition, this same content will be considered a listing beginning in 2013-2014.

What is the impact of this change?

The expansion of the definition of a listing could increase the measured amount of listings in some periodicals. This change could affect whether a periodical is eligible under Aid to Publishers or Business Innovation because periodicals with editorial content that is more than 50% listings are not eligible.

Who will this change affect?

Periodicals that contain listings could be affected. This includes periodicals that contain stock listings, sports scores and standings, television listings, product descriptions and restaurant descriptions.

When will this change take effect?

The new definition of a listing will be in effect for the 2013-2014 funding cycle, and will be included in the 2013-2014 Aid to Publishers and Business Innovation Applicant's Guides.

Why is this change being made?

Periodicals that contain primarily listings have never been eligible for support from the Canada Periodical Fund. This change will no longer allow listings to be treated as regular editorial content if they contain small amounts of opinion or analysis.

What are the details of the change?

Where can I get more information?

If you think that you could be affected by this change and would like more information about how the change could affect your periodical, please contact the Canada Periodical Fund.

How can I provide comments or feedback?

This notice is being given more than a year before the change will take effect to allow applicants sufficient time to manage any possible impacts on the eligibility of their periodicals and to provide comments or feedback. If you have comments or feedback about this change, you may send them in writing before March 12, 2012, to the Canada Periodical Fund.

Aid to Publishers Funding Formula 2011-2012

 

2011-08-29

We are pleased to reiterate that the Government has confirmed stable, ongoing funding for the CPF through the renewal of $15 million in the June 2011 federal budget, bringing the total program budget to $75.5 million.

Publishers currently in the CPF will recall that the Aid to Publishers formula was adjusted in 2010-2011 so that recipients received an amount of between 90% and 150% of the total Publications Assistance Program and Canada Magazine Fund payments they had received in 2008-2009.  This one-time special measure was applied to ease the transition from the former programs.  

Starting in 2011-2012, the ATP formula will be fully implemented.  Almost all recipients will see changes to their funding level:

• A third of the recipients will see their amounts change by more than 50%;
• Most publications will see increases compared to last year. Some of the increases will be large, but, some publications will experience decreases.

Although there is no reduction in the program's total funding, the CPF is different from the programs it replaced since funding is now based on success in reaching readers, not on postal or editorial costs. 

We will implement a three-year transition plan to help publishers gradually adjust to these changes and to plan accordingly.

To help you understand the transition plan and how ATP will work from now on, please refer to the ATP Fact Sheet. 

Aid to Publishers Fact Sheet

2011-08-29

Aid to Publishers (ATP): Overview

The objective of ATP, which is the core component of the CPF, is to ensure that Canadians have access to a diverse range of printed magazines and non-daily newspapers.  Funding is allocated using a formula that divides the total program budget among all eligible publications according to the eligible copies that each distributes and reflects the policy principles of the program, which are listed in the next section.

ATP policy principles

The policy principles which govern the ATP component and are put into practice through the funding formula are:

1. Tie financial support to the reading choices of Canadians
   • Funding is based on paid and request circulation.
   • Paid circulation receives higher funding per copy.
2. Favour small and mid-sized publications
   • Small circulation publications receive highest funding per copy.
   • Cap of $1.5million applied to the largest publications, redistributing funds to others.
3. Recognize different realities for magazines and newspapers
   • Magazines receive higher funding per copy.
4. Additional support for farm publications
   • Farm publications receive a higher funding per copy than others of the same type.
   • Farm publications are exempt from the cap.

The first policy principle listed-that financial support should be tied to the reading choices of Canadians-is the most important and leads directly to the main feature of the formula, which is that the more copies a publication sells, the greater its funding will be.

ATP funding amount estimates by annual circulation

The tables below show the estimated funding ranges that different types of publications can expect to receive based on the number of eligible copies sold or distributed in a year.  Please refer to the table that applies to your type of publication.

Here are some important things to keep in mind when reading these tables.

• The amounts are estimates to show what an approved periodical can expect to receive in a typical year. The amounts are subject to change and may vary from year to year, as they depend on each recipient's eligible annual circulation, the total eligible annual circulation for all recipients in a given year, the number of eligible titles, and the total ATP budget.
• The higher a periodical is in the annual circulation range, the closer its funding will be to the maximum funding amount for that range. For example, refer to Table 1, a paid magazine that sells close to, but under 500,000 copies, can expect its funding to be around $254,000, the maximum funding for that circulation range.

Table 1:  ATP formula estimated results, paid magazines

Eligible copies sold		Funding from ATP ($)
Minimum	Maximum	Minimum	Maximum
2,500	25,000	$3,000	$31,000
25,001	100,000	$31,000	$68,000
100,001	500,000	$68,000	$254,000
500,001	1,000,000	$254,000	$434,000
1,000,001	+	$434,000	$1,500,000

Table 2:  ATP formula estimated results, farm magazines

Eligible copies sold		Funding from ATP ($)
Minimum	Maximum	Minimum	Maximum
2,500	25,000	$6,000	$62,000
25,001	100,000	$62,000	$136,000
100,001	500,000	$136,000	$507,000
500,001	1,000,000	$507,000	$867,000
1,000,001	+	$867,000	N/A

Table 3:  ATP formula estimated results, request magazines

Eligible copies distributed		Funding from ATP ($)
Minimum	Maximum	Minimum	Maximum
2,500	25,000	$800	$9,000
25,001	100,000	$9,000	$19,000
100,001	500,000	$19,000	$71,000
500,001	1,000,000	$71,000	$122,000
1,000,001	+	$122,000	$1,500,000

Table 4:  ATP formula estimated results, non-daily newspapers

Eligible copies sold		Funding from ATP ($)
Minimum	Maximum	Minimum	Maximum
2,500	30,000	$600	$8,000
30,001	50,000	$8,000	$12,000
50,001	100,000	$12,000	$23,000
100,001	500,000	$23,000	$108,000
500,001	+	$108,000	$1,500,000

Table 5:  ATP formula estimated results, farm newspapers

Eligible copies sold		Funding from ATP ($)
Minimum	Maximum	Minimum	Maximum
2,500	30,000	$1,000	$15,000
30,001	50,000	$15,000	$24,000
50,001	100,000	$24,000	$46,000
100,001	500,000	$46,000	$215,000
500,001	+	$215,000	N/A

 

2011-2012 transition plan

Returning recipients

For returning recipients, the ATP formula will be implemented gradually over three years.  In other words, the funding amounts shown in the tables above will not be in effect in 2011-2012, but in three years, all factors being equal.

This applies both to publications that will see decreases compared to 2010-2011 and to those that will see increases.  A publication whose ATP funding is now lower than in 2010-2011 will see its annual amount gradually decrease from the existing level to the new level over three years and will not lose more than 35% in the first year.  Similarly, a publication whose ATP funding is higher will see the increase phased-in over three years.

New applicants

New applicants to Aid to Publishers are not affected by the transition plan.  These publications can refer to the tables above to estimate their funding amount in a given year.

Next steps, including the timing of payments for 2011-2012

Recipients will receive letters in early September 2011 indicating their funding amounts based on the transition plan.

For this year only, there will be two ATP payments because parliamentary approval of the $15 million included in the federal budget will not be completed until the end of December 2011. The first payment of 79% of the total will be made in September and the remaining 21% will be paid in early 2012.

The Application Guide for 2012-2013 will be posted online in October 2011, and the application deadline will be the end of November.

Payments in 2011-2012

2011-08-29

Funding decisions and payments for the Aid to Publishers component for fiscal year 2011-2012 can be expected in September 2011. There will be two payments, the second of which can be expected in January 2012.