TORONTO - The Canadian Television Fund (CTF) announced that the Production Incentive, launched as a pilot program in 2008-2009, has been renewed for 2009-2010 and has been increased from $5 million to $10 million. The goal of the incentive is to balance the distribution of financial support to productions across Canada by encouraging production where volumes have declined significantly.

"The pilot program was successful in generating an increase in production volume in Quebec in 2008-2009," said Valerie Creighton, President and CEO of the CTF. "In Atlantic Canada, the decline in production in recent years was lessened as a result of the incentive; however, there is still room for improvement, so the Production Incentive will be renewed for 2009-2010 in that area. Also, British Columbia and the Yukon and Northwest Territories saw a significant decline in the past year, and the CTF is working to reverse this through the Production Incentive."

For more information on the 2009-2010 Production Incentive, including application procedures and deadlines, please visit www.ctf-fct.ca. The following are a few highlights:

- the amount of funding available in 2009-2010 is $10 million;

- funds will be disbursed on a first-come, first-served basis until all funds are disbursed;

- applications must be submitted by December 7, 2009;

- $1.9 million is allocated to English-language productions in Atlantic Canada;

- $8.1 million is allocated to English-language productions in British Columbia and the Yukon and Northwest Territories; and

- the incentive will take the form of a licence fee top-up, consisting of 10% of a project's eligible costs up to a maximum of $1 million per project.

Fostering the growth of television production in Canada through financial investment and industry research, the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) supports the development of Canadian talent, programs and audiences. Since 1995, the CTF has contributed to the creation of over 27,000 hours of Canadian programming and has infused over $2.7B into the industry, triggering the production of over $9B of Canadian programming. CTF-supported productions have cultivated thousands of jobs in the Canadian television sector.