Feds are right to support TV/new media links

The Conservatives touched off a storm of protests recently when the party decided to take clippers to Canada’s arts community funding. Now granted, many of those complaining are not the folks the Conservatives tend to worry about, but the uproar…

The Conservatives touched off a storm of protests recently when the party decided to take clippers to Canada’s arts community funding. Now granted, many of those complaining are not the folks the Conservatives tend to worry about, but the uproar is still likely more than the party expected.

The Conservatives touched off a storm of protests recently when the party decided to take clippers to Canada’s arts community funding. Now granted, many of those complaining are not the folks the Conservatives tend to worry about, but the uproar is still likely more than the party expected.

All of which adds a level of interest to a recent press release announcing $2 million in additional funding to help Canadian television shows build stronger links to digital media. The Canadian Television Fund, financed by the federal government and by cable and home satellite providers, will make grants available to "support Canadian audiovisual, multimedia and interactive projects that are associated with CTF-funded television productions that use digital media to enrich viewer experiences."

CTF president Valerie Creighton is quoted in the release saying: "With more Canadians supplementing their television viewing habits with digital media content, the CTF is proud to support Canadian producers as they continue to develop these new platforms and we hope to expand it to include support for new media projects intended directly for digital platforms."

She is exactly correct. At one time television was the king in the competition for people’s free time, but increasingly PCs are taking a bite out of that long-held dominance. A recent study from Ipsos MediaCT found that, among U.S. respondents who download or stream video online, the percentage of video consumed over TV declined from 75% to 70% from February 2007 to February 2008. This demographic is an important one for advertisers and TV programmers. (The company does not make its reports publicly available, but some information is here.)

This decline in TV viewership was also noted in a study conducted by the Banff World Television Festival and the very same Canadian Television Fund last year. 

So if Canadian programming is losing viewers because, in part, people are spending more time staring at computer screens, then strengthening the new-media components of those shows can only be a good idea. And while I disagree with Stephen Harper’s suggestion that only artsy elites care about funding for the arts, it is good to see at least one artistic pursuit getting some money.      

Peter Wolchak
Backbone magazine

Filed Under: Television