Corus touring Canada to promote Women
Cross-country tour to introduce Women's Programming Fund
WTN is hoping to show independent producers of chick-fare what the channel is looking for, and guide them to the newly minted C$15 million ($9.3 million) Corus Women's Programming Fund, launched in December.
The future will, with the fund's help, include drama for the first time. The fund helps fulfill Corus' obligation to Canadian regulators, who greenlit its acquisition of WTN on the condition that $12.7 million, or about 10% of the transaction's value, go toward on-screen benefits over the next five years.
Days after receiving the go-ahead, Corus laid off all but a handful of WTN staff and moved the headquarters to Toronto.
The Women's Programming Fund tour begins in Vancouver, and then heads to Edmonton and Calgary in Alberta, then Regina, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg, Manitoba. Dates in Eastern Canada are to be announced.
