a) Admissible applicants

Projects for which a financial contribution is requested may come from either one or several producers, as long as the project, whether on the television level or the interactive multimedia level using the various platforms, including necessarily high speed Internet, be dealt with as a single project and that a single application be filed with Quebecor Fund. Moreover, in the case of a project filed in the context of a co-production or partnership, a single representative must be given full authority in dealing with Quebecor Fund; throughout the process, any and all transmissions of documents will have to combine and include all aspects of the project.

Applicants must satisfy the following criteria in order to be admissible:

• The applicant’s main activity must be that of the production of audio-visual programming;
  

• The company must have a distinct legal personality and be under Canadian control;
  
  
• The company must be operated in Canada and its head office must be situated in Canada;
  
  
• An applicant affiliated with a PU can have access to Quebecor Fund financing as long as it is a distinct juridical entity from the PU and that the latter, in virtue of the conditions stipulated in its licence, is not mainly government-financed. Quebecor Fund will limit its contribution to such applicants to 1/3 of total resources;
  
  
• Quebecor Fund will give preference to members of a recognised association of audio-visual or multimedia producers;
  
  
• The applicant will have to demonstrate that its financial situation is good and that it has experience relevant for the production of the project outlined in its application;
  
  
• An applicant may receive one (1) Quebecor Fund contribution, resulting in a maximum of one (1) project per round of financing. So that a second project, this one presented in the twelve (12) months following the acceptance of a first project, is considered acceptable, the producer will have to show his capacity in the long term to carry out the whole of his projects presented at the Quebecor Fund;
  
  
• The applicant must file a project whose first broadcasting date is subsequent to the limit date for filing the demand.
  

b) Admissible projects

The following projects are admissible for a Quebecor Fund contribution and can therefore form the basis for an application:

• Projects must include two aspects, that is, one aspect related to the broadcasting of quality-content television program by a duly licensed Canadian PU, and the production of an interactive multimedia component using namely platforms such as ITV, VOD and/or mobile terminals, and necessarily high speed Internet product;
  
  
• The Internet site that is part of the production will have to remain accessible for a minimum period of three (3) years from the first broadcast of the first television program, the quality and good working order of the site being at all times the producer’s responsibility. The site will have to be accessible via a domain name that will only contain the name of the production. In addition to this domain name, another domain name containing words or names other than the title of the production may also be used, but under provision of obtaining Quebecor Fund’s approval as to the other words or names and as to the user modes of this domain name. The site will have to contain a link to the Quebecor Fund site and shall be accessible notably via general portals;
  
  
• It is understood that the Quebecor Fund financial support shall not be used to develop sections of the site where it would have commercial transactions such as selling products or services;
  
  
• The Producer can produce a version of the site intended for interactive television (an ITV version) and must take any steps and reach any agreements necessary to make this version accessible to the public at the moment of the first broadcast of the premiere of the television program. The ITV site should remain accessible for at least the total duration of the broadcasting season, and possibly for an additional period in order to announce results, winners and/or any other information that may remain topical after the program has finished its run. The producer must host its site on a different server than that of the ITV platform provider. The Producer is at all times responsible for the quality and smooth operation of the site. The Producer must be sure to inform the ITV platform provider of this program’s broadcasting schedule, as well any changes made to it;
  
  
• The projects must promote the acquisition by the Canadian public of knowledge, skills, behaviours, or a combination of the three;
  
  
• Are not admissible to a contribution from Quebecor Fund, notably, sports programming projects (Category 6 according to the CRTC categories), current affairs type reports (Category 3 according to the CRTC categories) or news programming (Category 1 according to the CRTC categories), promotional projects such as infomercials or reports of a promotional nature, internal content reports or other promotional interlude programming commonly used by the PUs, games developed for the video arcade market, products developed exclusively for stand-alone devices such as CD-ROMS, DVDs or any other stand-alone device currently in use or to be developed in the future, as well as fully-sponsored projects;
  
  
• Is admissible, an international production approved by Telefilm Canada as a co-production that is the object of an official agreement, the whole insofar as all the other Quebecor Fund criteria are respected;
  
  
• The production project will have to be produced by Canadian creative artisans and be aimed at Canadians, it being understood that the production must obtain the certification of Canadian production as established by the accreditation system of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC);
  
  
• The applicant must prove that a PU has acquired a license for each distribution window, according to industry standards, and submit to Quebecor Fund a written commitment by the PU to the effect that it will broadcast the production in Canada within two (2) years from the end of production. The payment of the licence must be made entirely in cash and may not be partly paid in services. The payment must constitute a pre-sale and has to be totally invested by the applicant in the production;
  
  
• The applicant must also have entered into a service agreement with a high speed Internet provider so as to ensure high-speed electronic distribution of the interactive and multimedia components of the project, as well as to allow the periodic updating of the Internet site, when applicable;
  
  
• If applicable, the applicant must have concluded an agreement with a provider of ITV services on mobile terminals and supply the appropriate documentation regarding the broadcasting terms and resources implemented;
  
  
• A reasonable proportion of the project’s combined budget must be specifically allocated to the issue of the product’s compatibility with the ITV provider’s platform;
  
  
• The applicant must hold all rights in order to be allowed to produce, broadcast and completely carry out the production, as well as have a permanent financial interest in the project. The applicant must provide Quebecor Fund with the chain of intellectual property rights to be able to demonstrate that he respects this requirement. In the case of a co-production, the sum of the rights of each co-producer must total all the rights of any nature whatsoever, including authorship rights, to allow the producing, broadcasting and complete operation of the production, without notably time or territorial limitations and the chain of intellectual property must demonstrate that this requirement is respected;
  
  
• Projects which include narration, dialogue or songs must provide for close-captioning for the hearing impaired, except if the program is a project designed for children under five (5) years old, or if it is a program using an Aboriginal language that does not support the use of the Latin alphabet. Sub-titling must be done in Canada, by a company under Canadian control. The sub-titling costs must be included in the project’s budget;
  
  
• The Quebecor Fund logo, as well as the following mention: “with the financial support of Quebecor Fund”, must appear in the television program credits, on the Internet site, and in all the advertising and promotional material of the production.
  

Click here to download the logo in Illustrator 9.0 format.