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Broadcasting veteran named chair of CTF

12.06.2008 18:01 Arts - Source: cbc.ca

Broadcasting veteran Paul Gratton has been elected as the chair of the Canadian Television Fund, the federally mandated agency that helps fund Canadian television production.

Gratton was most recently vice president of specialty channels for CHUM Entertainment, now part of CTVglobemedia. He replaces Douglas Barrett.

Gratton has served on the CTF board several times from 1999 to 2006, representing the Canadian Association of Broadcasters.

He has worked as a program executive for CityTV, a station manager for Bravo and general manager of Space!

He also has served on the Ontario Film Development Corp. and was chair of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television from 2004-2007.

"The CTF is a vital component of the television industry in Canada, and I am honoured to be a part of this organization at this exciting time in its evolution," said Gratton said in a statement.

"As the industry adapts to the changing television landscape, so too will Canada's largest direct funder of television production. We will continue to meet the needs of the industry and continue to support shows that Canadians love to watch."

Gratton takes over the CTF at a time when the fund is under assault by cable companies who no longer want to contribute to its operation.

Last week, the federal broadcast regulator recommended splitting the CTF into two streams — one for private-sector broadcasters, the other for public-sector broadcasters.

Two new directors were also named to the CTF board — Marie-Andre Poliquin, representing CBC/Radio-Canada, and Chris Frank, nominated by a group calling itself the Canadian Coalition for Cultural Expression, which seems to represent the cable companies.

The Canadian Cable Television Association recently wound down its operations. Cable companies Shaw Communications and Vidotron were behind calls last year to kill the CTF.

The board has 21 members, but there are currently six vacancies.

On Wednesday, the CTF revealed that Canadian Broadcasting Corp. received $62 million from the CTF in 2007 to produce prime-time shows through indie producers last year, while rival CTV qualified for only $22.4 million to make Canadian shows for prime time and CanWest Broadcasting received $8.2 million.

A high proportion of CBC's prime-time programming is Canadian, but the commercial networks have slotted mainly U.S.-made programs into their prime-time schedules.

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