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The objective of the Performance Envelope Program is to encourage partnerships between broadcasters, television producers, and digital media producers to create convergent content that Canadian audiences can consume at any time and on the device of their choice. This program is part of the CMF’s Convergent Stream; so projects funded through this program must include content to be developed for distribution on at least two platforms, one of which must be television and the other, digital media. Through this program, the CMF allocates funding envelopes to English and French broadcasters in an amount that reflects their track record of supporting and airing Canadian programming. Broadcasters commit these funds to Canadian projects but the actual funding is paid directly to the producer. For further details, please consult the Performance Envelope Calculations appendix.
PERFORMANCE ENVELOPE COMMITMENTS
In 2015-2016, Performance Envelope funds were fully committed to 513 projects. A total of 41 broadcast ownership groups and independent broadcasters received envelopes, one more than last year. The CMF promoted diversity through a “new entrant” mechanism whereby 10 eligible independent broadcasters were allocated $50K each to allow them to meaningfully contribute to projects and begin earning credit toward building an envelope allocation in future years. The performance envelope program’s funding to production budget ratio was 5.0 to 1, a 5-year high. The Performance Envelope total budget allocation has been stable for the last 3 years. A total of 95.5% of 2015-2016 performance envelope funds were directed toward television projects and 4.5% or $11.7M was utilized for digital media components. Funding to digital media out of the Performance Envelope program has increased by 16.3% over 2014-2015 and is at a five-year high.
Genre shares at allocation were adjusted for the first time in many years. Increases were given to English Children’s and Youth and Variety and Performing Arts and French Variety and Performing Arts.
PERFORMANCE ENVELOPE BROADCASTERS' USE OF GENRE ALLOCATIONS
The final percent share of Performance Envelope funding by genre can vary from the Board-approved shares set at the outset of the year since 50% of Performance Envelope allocations to broadcasters are deemed Flex amounts that can be directed to any of the four CMF-supported genres. Broadcaster ownership groups and individual broadcasters with total allocations of under $5.0M (both languages combined) were granted 100% genre flexibility.
The charts above show significant negative shifts in genre shares from original allocation to final 2015-2016 commitments in all English genres except Documentary (up by 4.1 percentage points from the original allocation). French Children’s and Youth and Variety & Performing Arts show an increase in share of commitments. French Drama reports at 1.2 percentage points lower than the original allocation.