Astral Media has supported Canadian culture for many years. We are determined to play a leading role in supporting the extraordinary creative talent in the Canadian film, radio and television industries.

In Fiscal 2009, Astral Media's pay and specialty television services and radio stations dedicated over $172.4 million to developing and purchasing Canadian content and original programs and supporting Canadian talent. Of this, $91.1 million was invested by Astral Media's French-language radio and pay and specialty television operations.

Supporting Canadian-made content in Television

We continue to be the largest Canadian investor in English- and French-language content; we finance each step of film production, from screenwriting to capital investments to promotion. We are proud to broadcast Canadian productions on our stations, thereby providing considerable visibility to Canadian talent.

As leading funders of Canadian and Québec programming, The Movie Network and Super Écran have increased their investments year after year. In Fiscal 2009, together the two channels invested $50 million in such films as De père en flic on Super Écran and Barney’s Version on The Movie Network and original series like Pillars of the Earth and Meet Phil Fitz, also on The Movie Network.
Les Chaînes Télé Astral invested over $49.8 million to support and develop Canadian programs such as the magazine Décore ta vie, shown on Canal Vie, Dossiers justice on Canal D and La revance des NerdZ on Ztélé.

Astral Media The Harold Greenberg Fund/Le Fonds Harold Greenberg

Since its creation, Astral Media The Harold Greenberg Fund has invested more than $70 million to support over 3120 Canadian productions. In Fiscal 2009, The Fund injected over $4.3 million in 173 projects, including the productions Defendor and The Bang Bang Club. The Fund also invested in French-language projects, such as the films La donation, 1981, Les grandes chaleurs and Incendies.

Supporting the Canadian music industry

Astral Media Radio (AMR) believes in the Canadian music industry and supports it every day through a variety of different types of investments and by showcasing Canadian talent, in particular, nurturing emerging talent.

Astral Media believes in the Canadian music industry and demonstrates its support each day by investing in various projects and presenting Canadian talent, particularly emerging artists.

Upon the purchase of the assets of Standard Radio Inc. in 2007, Astral Media Radio committed to invest over $100 million in the advancement of Canadian musical talent and members of specific identified groups. Over 20 new initiatives have been launched supporting singers, songwriters and performers, as well as organizations working in the aboriginal space.

Astral Media Radio is not only the largest radio group in Canada, but is also the most innovative in terms of its work in the development of these groups. For details on its work in this field, visit itallstartswithasong.ca.

One of the most exciting of these projects is an initiative to record emerging Canadian bands in Toronto streetcars for distribution on our airwaves, on our web sites and on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. To see the results of these sessions, visit thetransittapes.ca.