Ottawa: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has effectively killed MuchFACT, the MuchMusic funded Foundation to Assist Talent on video.

The announcement was made within a bundle of regulatory decisions announced Monday (Decision 149, section 55).

The MuchFACT program routinely pumps as much as $2 million a year into Canadian music content creation.

As part of Bell Media’s TV renewal approval, the CRTC approved the deletion of required contributions to MuchFACT by Much and sister station Gusto (formerly M3).

As well, Bell Media-owned MTV Canada is no longer required to allocate $50,000 annually to independent production companies for concept and script development.

Initially founded as VideoFACT in 1984 by Moses Znaimer and Bernie Finkelstein, the organization provided grants and loans generated by MuchMusic (and later Musiqueplus and MuchMoreMusic) revenues to finance the production of Canadian music videos. Many a Canadian superstar has benefited at one time or another from the program, including such million-selling artists as Celine Dion, Sarah McLachlan, k-os, Nelly Furtado, The Tragically Hip, Arcade Fire, Barenaked Ladies, and k.d. lang.

Rebranded as MuchFACT in 2009 — with the added responsibility of funding innovative music-related content intended for online distribution — the organization has awarded more than $100 million, funding nearly 9,000 projects. Most recently, in April, MuchFact awarded $445,251 to 25 recipients, including Broken Social Scene, Wintersleep, Land Of Talk and Basia Bulat.

Until the CRTC’s latest decree, MuchFACT had been entirely funded by Much, a division of Bell Media.

A sister program, PromoFACT, was launched in 1998 with the birth of MuchMoreMusic as an EPK and website production fund for Canadian artists, indie record labels and artist management companies.