From the Canadian Press:

• Hopefuls pitch potential TV hits to executives at Montreal’s Just for Laughs
  “No firm commitments were made to anyone – at least in the room – but someone will walk away with the top prize of a CBC development deal by the end of the festival on Sunday, organizers said.”

John Doyle of the Globe and Mail on the reaction to the proposed changes to the Canadian Television Fund:

• What’s sending a shiver through Canadian TV writers, actors
  “Essentially this means that the money from the cable and satellite companies would be directed solely to commercial, hit programs. The other money, from the government, would go to “cultural programs.” The culture stuff would have to be 100-per-cent Canadian. That is, according to the arcane points system for assessing Canadianness, the project would get 10 out of 10 points. In the other area – the drama and comedy series, the made-for-TV movies and miniseries, essentially – the project would only be required to get eight out of 10 points.

Cheryl Binning of Playback lays out the fall seasons, including Canadian shows:

• Few fall breakout hits expected from CTV, Global

Julian Beltrame of the Canadian Press reports on the CRTC report on the Canadian Television Fund:

• No opting out of co-operative TV fund, but shows must be more commercial: report
  “The task force recommends that the fund be separated into two separate streams – one supported by Ottawa that would go into ‘culturally significant’ programming, and one supported by the cable and satellite companies that would produce more commercial fare.”

Mark Dillon of Playback writes about the surprise CRTC ruling on the CTV/CHUM merger, and what it means to the industry:

• Establishing Shot: A little regulation is a good thing
  “Producers, advertisers and culturecrats feared we would end up with two conventional players when the dust settled, but instead we could have two more evenly matched leaders and a strong third. Nice to see what a little regulation can do.”