The CRTC has given itself more time to consider licence renewals for independent TV stations including Télé-Québec, CHCH Hamilton, CHEK Victoria, NTV, Yes TV, CHFD Thunder Bay and Pattison stations CKPG Prince George, CFJC Kamloops and CHAT Medicine Hat. The CRTC has granted license renewals to Hollywood Suite; Blue Ant Media channels A.Side, BBC Earth, Cottage Life, HIFI, Love Nature, Makeful, T + E and Smithsonian Channel; Canal Évasion, Knowledge Network, BBC Kids, The Rural Channel, as well as AMI-audio, AMI-tv and AMI-télé licences.
CKWS-TV Kingston is joining CHEX-TV Peterborough in rebranding its newscasts as CKWS News on Global Kingston. Both affiliates are continuing to air three daily newscasts – noon, 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. – along with their existing Morning Shows. Global says staff and content at both affiliates remain unaffected by the rebrands.
Global Calgary is celebrating Pride Week with new series Pride Without Prejudice. The five-part series is hosted by Global News Morning anchor Jordan Witzel, who sat down with members of the LGBTQ community to share their stories and promote understanding, touching on subjects like discrimination, youth experience, and social change.
Global has unveiled its fall lineup, anchored by Hollywood heavyweights Dick Wolf, Cedric the Entertainer, Amy Poehler, Damon Wayans Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt, among others. Featuring 17 hours of simulcast, the fall premiere season kicks off with two-night Season 2 premiere event of last winter’s break-out series 9-1-1 on Sept. 23-24. On Sept. 25, highly-anticipated, new series FBI – the latest from Emmy Award-winner Dick Wolf (Law & Order) – and New Amsterdam join the schedule. Read the full story here.
HGTV Canada and Mike Holmes are celebrating 15 years of making programming together. Since his first television series on HGTV Canada in 2003, Holmes has led nine Canadian-original series and specials, including Holmes on Homes, which had a seven season run, Best of Holmes on Homes, Holmes Inspection, Holmes Makes It Right, and Holmes + Holmes. He has also appeared in HGTV Canada’s Home To Win and Sarah Off The Grid, along with special events including Holmes In New Orleans, Mike Holmes Ultimate Garage, Lien On Me, and Holmes: Behind the Overalls. Holmes + Holmes, featuring Holmes and his son Mike Holmes Jr., returns for a second season Sunday, October 7 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. To celebrate the partnership milestone, HGTV Canada’s social and digital platforms will publish a variety of anniversary-themed content, including videos of Mike and Mike Jr. competing in skill testing 15-second and 15-minute challenges; additional photo galleries and articles.
The Great Canadian Baking Show returns to CBC on Wednesday, Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT). Season 2 of the culinary competition show is hosted by actor and writer Daniel Levy and actress Julia Chan, with acclaimed pastry chefs Bruno Feldeisen and Rochelle Adonis also returning as the series judges.
CBC has renewed all-female original sketch comedy series Baroness Von Sketch Show from Frantic Films for a fourth season (10 x 30). Created by and starring Carolyn Taylor, Meredith MacNeill, Aurora Browne and Jennifer Whalen, the new season will begin production in Toronto this September for launch on CBC in 2019. The renewal announcement comes just ahead of the premiere of Season 3 on CBC on Sept. 18.
CBC original series In The Making, set to premiere Sept. 21, takes viewers inside the creative process of some of Canada’s leading artists. Sean O’Neill took a sabbatical from his role as Director of Public Programs and Partnerships at the Art Gallery of Ontario to produce the series. The inaugural season follows eight artists working across the mediums of dance, theatre, visual art, and music, featuring performers like Toronto-based musician Lido Pimienta as she records her new album in Colombia. All eight episodes will be available to stream on the CBC TV app and cbc.ca/watch, with individual episodes broadcasting weekly each Friday at 8:30 p.m. (9 pm NT) on CBC.
Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) has announced that the second season of the award-winning Employable Me will return Friday, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m. ET on AMI-tv. Based on a UK format, the six-part docuseries follows job seekers with a physical disability or neurological condition as they face the job market. Season 1 of Employable Me captured a 2018 Rockie Award for Best Lifestyle Program at the Banff World Media Festival and Diversify TV’s Excellence Award for Representation of Disability in the Non-Scripted Category at MIPCOM 2017. Digital exclusives are available at AMI.ca updating viewers on where job seekers are now in their careers.
CTV has confirmed its fall premiere dates. Its 2018/2019 television season kicks off with the 70th Emmy Awards on Sept. 17. Other hotly-anticipated new series include the reboot of Magnum P.I. (Sept. 24), Roseanne spinoff The Conners (Oct. 16), new primetime talk series The Alec Baldwin Show (Oct. 14), as well as the 12th and final season of The Big Bang Theory (Sept. 24). ETALK will air 30-minute special CTV’s Big Fall Preview on Monday, Sept. 3 at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CTV and CTV GO.
DHX Television has released the September schedule for its suite of channels. Family Channel sees the return of reality competition series The X Factor and Top Chef Junior; Family CHRGD offers up new animated series Mega Man: Fully Charged, while Family Jr.’s lineup includes new episodes of Polly Pocket and aspiring martial-arts style superhero Kody Kapow. See the full lineup here.
Jim Carrey’s new Showtime comedy Kidding leads CraveTV’s September streaming lineup. Carrey returns in his first series-regular role in more than two decades when the new, half-hour comedy series debuts Sunday, Sept. 9 at 10 p.m. ET. Also from Showtime – political documentary series The Circus: Inside The Wildest Political Show On Earth, which pulls back the curtain on the Trump era of presidential politics. It returns with nine new episodes starting Sept. 16. Also available starting Sept. 4, are the previous week’s episodes of the most-watched daytime soap globally, The Bold and the Beautiful, now in its 31st Season. Read more here.
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) has released its annual report for the 2017/18 fiscal year, saying women now hold 40 per cent of leadership positions on CMF-funded TV productions. In 2017/18, CMF funding triggered $1.4B in production activity across the country. Every $1 of CMF funding generated $4.14 in production activity – the highest leverage ratio since the CMF was created in 2010. Its funding programs contributed $342.3M to financing the development, production and promotion of 1,176 television and digital media projects. The last fiscal year also marked the launch of CMF’s YouTube channel Encore+ in November, featuring iconic Canadian films and television programs. CMF says discussions have been undertaken with existing partners Google Canada, Bell Media, Deluxe Toronto, Telefilm Canada, and others to ensure the project’s longevity.
Sadaf Foroughi’s Summer With Hope and Tracey Deer’s Beans are the next two projects that will receive funding from the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) and Women in View (WIV) through CFC Features. For the first time in the program’s history, CFC Features partnered with WIV to collect filmmaker and project nominations from culturally and regionally diverse female creators, as opposed to holding an open call for submissions. A special advisory committee made up of well-respected Canadian women in film assisted with the final selections. With the support of CFC Features and program partner The Movie Network (TMN), the two films will go through script polishing and packaging next. Both projects aim to go to camera in spring and summer 2019, respectively.
