The Year in Brief: Onscreen
- Film and Video Policy and Programs
- Broadcasting Policy and Programs (Onscreen)
- Canadian Culture Online
From film and video to television and online media, “screens” abound in Canada. In 2006-2007, the most recent period for which official information is available, film and television production volume in Canada reached $5 billion, a 2 percent increase over the previous year.11 (Production volume is the total of all production budgets for works created in Canada.) Domestic box office revenues of Canadian feature films reached $28 million in 2007.12
In 2007-2008, media companies merged and advertising paradigms shifted. Direct investment and tax credits stimulated production in Canada, creating opportunities for the domestic production sector to build its capacity. Innovation and change in the realm of digital media produced an increasingly wide variety of products and technologies: Canadians are embracing these like never before and creative interactive activity—both professional and non-professional—is thriving. Myriad changes for consumers, creators and businesses are not only triggering dynamic developments in existing industries, but also creating opportunities for new entrants and fresh lines of business, fuelling demand for innovative devices and technologies. Global markets are opening up like never before, increasing corporate competitiveness, and creating remarkable potential for companies to use a full range of platforms and reach consumers in near-unlimited ways.
Pursuing our priorities
The Cultural Affairs Sector uses policies, programs and research to ensure that Canadians create and have access to their own film, video, television and interactive digital media works.
- In 2007-2008, the Sector contributed to 466 television productions (amounting to 2,168 hours of original programming) through the Canadian Television Fund; supported shows included Degrassi the Next Generation, Little Mosque on the Prairie, Tout sur moi and Les hauts et les bas de Sophie Paquin.
- The Sector provided support to more than 300 diverse projects that resulted in engaging interactive Web sites and other digital products, such as thisisemilyyeung.com, CornerGas.com and Wapikoni Mobile.
- By administering tax credits, the Sector helps support more than 1,000 television productions and more than 75 feature films annually.
- The Sector funds the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) to ensure the distribution of Aboriginal programming over-the-air to 130,000 people13 in Northern and remote communities.
- In the English market, when Canadians watch television, almost half their viewing is of Canadian shows. In the French market, two-thirds of their viewing is of Canadian shows.14
- The Virtual Museum of Canada, a groundbreaking Web portal that brings Canada’s museums into Canadian homes, schools and workplaces, also receives Sector funding.
- In 2007-2008, the CNMF supported 25 initiatives that included trade shows, training programs and market research activities contributing to the industrial and professional development of the interactive media industry in all regions of Canada.
The following chapter provides further details regarding the results our activities bring to Canadians.
Results
Film and Video Policy and Programs
The Cultural Affairs Sector supports the country’s film and video industry by monitoring the performance of federal policies and overseeing the contribution agreements of various funds. The volume of film and television production in Canada rose by 2 percent in 2006-2007 to $5 billion.15 This production volume figure totals all production budgets for works created in Canada.
Through the Canadian Feature Film Policy (CFFP), Telefilm Canada administers the Canada Feature Film Fund (CFFF). A key objective of the CFFP is to increase the audience for Canadian productions—with the specific target of achieving a 5 percent share of the domestic box office for Canadian films. In 2007, the market share of Canadian feature films was 3.2 percent, down 1 percent from 2006.16
Market Share of Canadian Films, 2000 to 2007 | ||||||||
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
Presented in French | 5.8% | 9.8% | 12.5% | 18.3% | 21.2% | 27.0% | 17.0% | 16.2% |
Presented in English | 1.4% | 0.2% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 1.6% | 1.2% | 1.8% | 0.9% |
Total | 2.0% | 1.4% | 2.6% | 3.5% | 4.6% | 5.5% | 4.2% | 3.2% |
The Sector is also responsible for developing Canada’s Coproduction Policy, which governs collaborations between Canadian and foreign producers under a treaty signed by the two countries. Coproductions enable Canadian and foreign producers to pool their resources, creating films and television programs that enjoy national status in each of the countries involved. Canada has treaties with 53 countries.
Volume of Coproductions and Proportion of Canadian Contributions (source: Telefilm Canada) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Year | Total volume | Canadian contribution | Foreign contribution |
2007 | 542 | 225 | 317 |
Funding and investment
Federal support to the film and video sector is provided through the CFFP, the Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office (CAVCO), Telefilm Canada, the National Film Board of Canada and the Canada Council for the Arts.In 2007-2008, the following funding was provided to Canadian creators:
Canadian Feature Film Policy ($ million) |
|
Telefilm Canada—Canada Feature Film Fund | 90.2* |
Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund | 1.5 |
Canada Council for the Arts | 2.9 |
Library and Archives Canada | 0.51 |
Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada | 0.15 |
Other federal support ($ million) |
|
National Film Board of Canada | 77 |
Canada Council for the Arts | 10.1 |
Telefilm Canada—other funds, including the National Training Program in the Film and Video Sector ($2.5M), festivals and markets, professional development | 6.2 |
Achieving impact through tax credits
The Sector and the Canada Revenue Agency co-administer two federal government tax credit programs for film and video production. The Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit (CPTC) is a refundable corporate tax credit designed to support the growth of a viable indigenous film and video production industry in Canada. The Film or Video Production Services Tax Credit (PSTC) is a refundable corporate tax credit designed to support the film and video production services industry by encouraging the use of Canadian labour on productions that shoot in Canada.
For 2007, the Department of Finance estimates an expenditure of $200 million in tax credits for the CPTC. The estimate for PSTC tax credits for the same year is $125 million.
To be recognized as Canadian content for CPTC purposes, a production must meet certain requirements for key creative personnel—receiving at least six out of ten points for having Canadians in key creative positions, including director, screenwriter, lead performers, director of photography, art director, music composer and picture editor.
Because data cannot be considered until all tax credit applications for a given fiscal year are received—usually one to two years after—all of the following will be confirmed as accurate in 2008-2009.
Total Number of Productions (CPTC) 2003-2004 to 2007-2008 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Television | Feature Film | ||
Year | Productions | Year | Productions |
2003-2004 | 1,023 | 2003-2004 | 83 |
2004-2005 | 1,132 | 2004-2005 | 61 |
2005-2006 | 1,094 | 2005-2006 | 90 |
2006-2007 | 1026 | 2006-2007 | 94 |
2007-2008 | 791* | 2007-2008 | 64* |
Number of Productions by Genre 2007-2008 (CPTC)* | |
|---|---|
Genre | Television |
Children | 53 |
Documentary | 344 |
Educational/Instructional | 37 |
Fiction | 153 |
Magazine | 119 |
Music | 4 |
Performing Arts | 14 |
Variety | 63 |
Other | 4 |
Number of Productions Certified Through the PSTC 2007-2008 | |
|---|---|
Year | Productions |
2003-2004 | 163 |
2004-2005 | 162 |
2005-2006 | 185 |
2006-2007 | 153 |
2007-2008 | 116* |
Number of Productions by Language 2007-2008 (CPTC)* | ||
|---|---|---|
Language | Television | Feature film |
English | 446 | 37 |
English/French | 17 | 0 |
French | 321 | 27 |
Other | 7 | 0 |
*PLEASE NOTE FOR ALL DATA PRESENTED ABOVE: Due to a lag between the time a production takes place and the time an application is made to CAVCO, the most recent year should be considered an “incomplete year.” An incomplete year should not be seen as a drop in economic activity in the film and television industry for that year, as it takes approximately two years for the data to be considered accurate. The most recent fiscal year is, on average, about 80% of what the actual number will be once all applications have been received and certified.
Capacity building and development
The CFFP supports the full spectrum of Canadian feature film development, from building the industry to growing audiences. It contributes to the quality and diversity of Canadian feature films through the CFFF and helps build larger audiences at home and abroad for Canadian feature films.
The industry is also developed through foreign location shooting. Canada continues to be an attractive location for foreign producers due to its pool of professional and technical talent, geography and available support programs. Foreign location shooting plays an important role in the ecology of film production in Canada—employing Canadian producers, creators and crews, and fostering knowledge and technical skills transfer in the industry. It also brings significant benefits to many other sectors of the Canadian economy. In 2006-2007, the total volume of this activity was $1.4 billion or 29 percent of the total amount of the film and television production industry in Canada.
The export market
Film makes up Canada’s largest cultural export category: 28 percent, together with video, of the country’s overall culture goods exports in 2007 ($550 million out of a total $1.96 billion).19 These exports were made to a number of key film and video goods trading partners, as per the chart below.
Year | Volume of Film and | Principal Trading Partners, | |||||
United States | United Kingdom | China | France | Germany | Rest | ||
2007 | $550 | $506.6 | $7.1 | $4.4 | $2.3 | $1.5 | $28.1 |
Results
Broadcasting Policy and Programs (Onscreen)
Broadcasting is important to Canadians. It is ubiquitous and part of their everyday lives. Canadians turn to their broadcasting system for their news and information and the majority of their entertainment. It is where they learn about Canada and the world—and it is fundamental in their understanding of a proud and sovereign Canada. Broadcasting transcends geographic distances, cultural differences and linguistic duality. At its best, broadcasting nourishes our democracy by fostering a more informed citizenry. And, in times of crisis, the broadcasting system takes on an important public service and emergency communications role.
Legislation, regulation and policy
Canada’s Broadcasting Act sets out the federal government’s public policy objectives for the Canadian broadcasting system and provides a framework for the activities of broadcasters, including the national public broadcaster, CBC/Radio-Canada, and the regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). The objectives of the Act are to ensure that Canadian programming is created and that Canadians have access to it.
The Department of Canadian Heritage is responsible for advising the federal government on the implementation of the Broadcasting Act.
The Cultural Affairs Sector develops policies and designs and administers programs to advance the objectives of the Broadcasting Act. Its policies and programs ensure Canadians receive Canadian content on radio, on television and online. They also support the federal government’s objectives of ensuring a sustainable broadcasting system, a profitable broadcasting sector and thriving production and creative industries. Finally, the Sector’s work aims to ensure a strong Canadian presence in the digital marketplace.
The Sector conducts research and economic analysis and monitors trends in the broadcasting and digital communications environment to help ensure that policies, programs and the legislative framework are relevant and up to date. The Sector provides advice to the federal government on the role, mandate and governance of the regulator and the national public broadcaster. It also advises the Government on whether and when to provide policy direction to, and make requests of, the regulator, and on how to respond to appeals to CRTC licensing decisions. The Sector closely monitors regulatory policy proceedings and provides input to government‑wide initiatives that have implications for the Canadian broadcasting system.
The digital priority: Transitioning Canada’s broadcast infrastructure
In Canada, the mandatory deadline for television broadcasters to transition from analog to digital signals is August 31, 2011. Already more than 90 percent of Canadians subscribe to cable or satellite service providers and will be minimally affected by the change. Producers, distributors and broadcasters are investing heavily in the equipment infrastructure to create, distribute and receive digital content. A growing focus is now the development of Canadian high-definition (HD) content.
Responding to media consolidation
As the result of media company convergence, today broadcast programming is now being supplied by telecommunications services over the Internet and mobile networks, with telecommunications companies deriving much of their value proposition from the content they deliver.
Canada has witnessed a string of media merger announcements since 2005, including those of CTVglobemedia/CHUM, Rogers/CityTV and CanWest/Alliance Atlantis. In 2007, the seven largest television ownership groups accounted for 85 percent of all commercial TV revenues. The top five broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) (i.e. providers of television programming services to subscribers, such as cable and satellite) accounted for 93 percent of all BDU revenues.20
In 2007, the CRTC examined its approach to media consolidation and held a separate proceeding to review issues related to the diversity of voices in Canadian media. On January 15, 2008, the CRTC issued two decisions indicating that it was satisfied that the broadcasting system provides Canadians with a range of news and information programming. The announced changes to the CRTC’s media ownership policy essentially preserved the status quo for most major media companies. The changes will limit, however, how media companies grow in the future.
Evolutions in advertising
Over-the-air (OTA) broadcast advertising revenues, as well as pay and specialty television, grew between 2003 and 2007.21 This represents stable-to-moderate growth compared to the rise in Internet advertising, which reached $1.2 billion in 200722 and competes increasingly for dollar share with traditional broadcast advertising. With the recent global downturn in the economy, analysts are predicting a 20 percent decline in advertising revenues. The largest percentage declines are expected to come from sectors that were traditionally the largest spenders, particularly the automotive sector.
Funding and investment
Some 19 privately funded independent production funds provide development, production and interim financing to Canadian television programs, feature films and new media projects across all genres. The Sector is accountable for the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) and the Northern Distribution Program (NDP).
The Canadian Television Fund
This public-private partnership assists in the creation and broadcast—during peak viewing hours—of high-quality Canadian television programs in English, French and Aboriginal languages. In 2007-2008, the Sector contributed $120 million to the CTF’s $242 million budget. This led to 466 productions totalling 2,168 hours of original television programming valued at a total production budget of $869 million. These included:
- 67 children’s and youth projects—657 hours
- 260 documentary projects—775 hours
- 73 dramatic projects—480 hours
- 48 variety and performing arts projects—198.7 hours
- 57.5 hours of Aboriginal productions
In 2007-2008, the CTF also supported more than 1,090 hours of English-, French- and Aboriginal-language high-definition productions. This represents 50 percent of all hours supported and is a significant increase from 681 hours in 2006-2007.
In February 2008, the Government instructed the CRTC to submit a report containing recommendations on the future of the CTF to the Minister of Canadian Heritage; the report was submitted in June 2008.
The Northern Distribution Program*
The NDP provides $2.1 million in financial assistance to the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) to broadcast Aboriginal programming OTA in 96 Northern and remote communities. The NDP encourages delivery of television programming that reflects the social, political, economic and cultural life of all Northern Aboriginal residents, and educational and informational programming relevant to Northerners. The Northern population with access to the APTN signal OTA, supported through the NDP, is approximately 130,000 people. Of these, about 10 percent actually rely on the OTA signal for their reception.23
*This program will not be renewed beyond the 2010-2011 fiscal year.
Given the challenges of maintaining costly OTA transmission infrastructure in the North and the broader move from analog to digital transmission in both the United States and Canada, the Sector is working with APTN to ensure a transition from OTA distribution of the signal in the North to a combination of direct-to-home (DTH) satellite and cable distribution. This modernization of the broadcasting distribution system in the North is expected to be completed when the current contribution agreement for the NDP expires in 2010.
CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is funded through a combination of parliamentary appropriations (approximately $1 billion annually) and commercial revenues. It provides Canadians with access to two national television networks, six specialty television services, four national radio networks, two award-winning Web sites and several services on other platforms such as bandeapart.fm and Galaxie. It also serves Canada’s Northern communities through CBC North in English, French and eight Aboriginal languages. Radio Canada International produces radio programming in nine languages for worldwide consumption; its multilingual Web-based radio service, RCI viva, caters to recent immigrants to Canada. Eighty-six percent of Canadians use CBC/Radio‑Canada services, including television, radio and Web sites.24
Capacity building and development
Evidence that the Sector’s efforts are having a meaningful impact on Canada’s broadcasting industry may be inferred from the following:
- Private broadcasting revenues for the TV and BDU industries grew from $8.6 billion in 2003 to $11.2 billion in 2007.26
- The number of persons employed in the TV and BDU industries grew from 30,193 in 2005 to 34,147 in 2007.27
- As of December 31, 2007, there were 507 Canadian television services offered in Canada, including 126 Canadian third-language services, and 178 non-Canadian satellite services that were authorized for distribution, of which 81 were third-language services.28
- Canadians average 26.8 hours of television viewing per week, up from 2005 when the average was 26.1.29
Results
Canadian Culture Online (CCO)
The Cultural Affairs Sector fosters a distinctly Canadian cultural presence in the interactive space in both English and French through the Canadian Culture Online Strategy (CCOS). It funds the creation of interactive digital cultural content by a wide range of organizations, including interactive media producers, as well as heritage, cultural and community organizations. The Sector also promotes access to that content through the Internet and other digital platforms and funds sector development activities to maintain Canada’s leadership in interactive digital cultural content.
Funding and investment
In 2007-2008, the Sector invested $47 million to:
- Promote the development, production and distribution of original interactive media products created by Canadian interactive digital content producers (Canada New Media Fund, administered by Telefilm Canada);
- Support provincial, municipal and local cultural organizations in making local cultural collections available nationally (Partnerships Fund), as well as federal cultural institutions in sharing key national collections for which they are custodians on behalf of all Canadians (Canadian Memory Fund);
- Help diverse Canadian communities share their stories with all Canadians (Gateway Fund);
- Provide Canadians with authoritative online works of reference (Canadian Works of Reference Licensing Agreements);
- Provide access to Canadian cultural content through two dedicated portals (the Virtual Museum of Canada and Culture.ca); and
- Help foster a sustainable environment by supporting research and development (New Media Research Networks Fund and New Media R&D Initiative) and encouraging interactive media sector development (Canada New Media Fund).
Canadian Culture Online Components* | Number of Projects Supported | Investment |
Canada New Media Fund | 153 | 11.5 |
Partnerships Fund | 26 | 6.0 |
Gateway Fund | 29 | 1.5 |
Virtual Museum of Canada | 67 | 5.5 |
Canadian Works of Reference Licensing Agreements | 2 | 2.1 |
Canadian Memory Fund | 28 | 12.5 |
New Media Research Networks Fund | 5 | 2.3 |
New Media R&D Initiative | 6 | 1.3 |
Culture.ca (including Culturescope.ca) | 1 | 4.3 |
Total | 317 | 47.0 |
Spanning platforms and genres: Interactive media products
In June 2007, the Government of Canada announced a two-year renewal of the Canada New Media Fund (CNMF), with a total allocation of up to $29 million.
In 2007-2008, contributions for the CNMF’s Product Assistance component totalled $8.3 million, leveraging an overall industry production volume of nearly $18 million. Support was provided to 121 projects developed by Canadian interactive producers for the production of content for mobile phones, PCs, game consoles or handheld devices, as well as online content linked with Canadian-produced television programming.
Sharing Canada’s cultural heritage online
The Sector has been successful in providing local access to national content and national access to local content. Through the Partnerships Fund and the Canadian Memory Fund, it helped connect Canadians with the riches of their cultural heritage by supporting projects that allowed regional heritage and cultural organizations as well as federal institutions to make their cultural collections available online. Through licensing agreements with respect to key works of reference, the Sector also provided Canadians with access to The Canadian Encyclopedia and the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, two authoritative sources of content about Canada’s culture and heritage. The Virtual Museum of Canada continued to bring Canada’s museums into Canadian homes, schools and workplaces.
Supporting diversity
By supporting the creation and distribution of a wide range of content, the Sector has helped provide a diversity of choices to both Canadians and audiences around the world. For example, CCO recipients are required to apply specific standards for their projects to ensure accessibility for persons with a visual or hearing disability. In 2007-2008, through funding from the Canadian Memory Fund, the National Film Board of Canada digitized 260 films in its catalogue, 78 of which included video descriptions for persons with a visual disability and 48 of which were subtitled to assist Canadians with a hearing disability.
Although French-language digital cultural content has increased in recent years, the Internet remains a predominately English-language space. The CCOS continued to address this disparity by ensuring that at least 50 percent of projects supported made their content available in French, and funded 69 projects aimed specifically at creating French-language or bilingual cultural content. Three new projects were carried out by organizations from official language minority communities.
Through the Gateway Fund (29 projects) and the Partnerships Fund (6 projects), the Sector supported the creation of digital cultural content by and about Canada’s ethnocultural and Aboriginal communities, enabling them to share, in their own voice, the expression of their culture with other Canadians.Traffic patterns: Measuring online results
Twenty-four Web sites funded through the CNMF generated more than 6.5 million visits in 2007-2008. A broad range of Sector-funded Web sites reached varying audience sizes, from community-developed projects like the Canadian Tamil Youth Development Centre’s CanTYD Web site, with 11,000 visits over a six-month period, to larger scale projects such as CBC/Radio-Canada Archives, which received 3.9 million visits in a year. The Virtual Museum of Canada continued to be a popular destination, generating over 12.5 million visits in 2007‑2008.
Recognition and awards
Numerous initiatives supported by the CCOS were recognized in 2007-2008 for their high quality, imagination and cultural value. For example, Tipatshimuna: Innu Stories from the Land, a virtual exhibit helping to preserve and strengthen Innu heritage, received the Prix Web’Art d’Or de l’exposition virtuelle from AVICOM, an international committee specialized in audiovisual aspects of museology, as well as the Canadian Museums Association Award for Outstanding Achievement. Produced by Reel Girls Media Inc., Anash Interactive, an online destination where users can create their own comic books and stories using digital assets from the animated television series Anash and the Legacy of the Sun-Rock, also received numerous awards, including a Silver Award at the World Media Festival in Hamburg, Germany, and a Gold Remi for Children’s Interactive at WorldFest-Houston.
Capacity building and development
The Sector continued to have a significant capacity-building impact on a broad range of organizations, ranging from interactive media producers and associations to research and academic institutions.
Interactive media sector development
Both the Sectoral Assistance and Sectoral Development components of the CNMF, which totalled $1.8 million in funding for 32 projects, helped build capacity in the industry by providing Canadian interactive media companies with opportunities for increased business development in both domestic and international markets.
Research and development
The establishment of thematic research networks and partnerships through both the New Media Research Networks Fund and the New Media R&D Initiative brought Canadian research institutions and interactive media organizations together to develop innovative tools at the intersection of technology and culture.
In 2007-2008, the New Media Research Networks Fund supported five projects involving 28 academic, not-for-profit and industry organizations. As for the New Media R&D Initiative, six projects involving 26 academic, not-for profit and industry organizations were funded. For example, the Digital Liner Notes project, led by Project Opus Technologies Inc., allowed musicians and the recording industry to create the digital equivalent of album liner notes and add-ons similar to those included with the purchase of physical albums and CDs.
The Sector organized the Cultural Innovation Forum, a conference on the future business development of the interactive media sector in Canada. In collaboration with Telefilm Canada, the Sector also held a series of round tables—the Interactive Media 3.0 Forum—with interactive media leaders across the country.[ Previous Page | Table of Contents | Next Page ]