English POV Program

This program is designed to support the growth of English-language point of view (POV) documentaries. This program is part of the Canada Media Fund’s (CMF) Convergent Stream; thus, projects funded through this program must include content to be produced for distribution on at least two platforms, one of which must be television and the other, digital media. Funding from this program is allocated according to a selective process, using an evaluation grid.

A total of 13 feature-length documentaries received $4.8M. Commitments through the POV Program have  stayed stable during the past three years. The average television project budget fell to under $700K after two years in the $750K range. Three-quarters of convergent projects had Rich and Substantial digital media second screen components. English POV Program projects received an additional $510K from the Performance Envelope Program and regional incentives. Regional projects received 43.9% of funding in 2017-2018.

Broadcasters triggering English POV program projects in 2017-2018 were Documentary Channel, TVO, Radio-Canada, RDI, and Explora. 

CMF contributions to POV television financing were up this year to 52.2% compared to last year’s 41.7%. Foreign financing of television projects declined again to 0.3% (in the financing of two projects). The “Other” category represented a private investment in one project. CMF, producer self-financing, and broadcasters were the sole financiers of POV digital media components. The lack of private-sector financing may have contributed to lower budgets in 2017-2018.