CBC has been called on by the House of Commons Heritage Committee to explain controversial history series The Story of Us. The 10-episode docu-drama, which began airing in March, was intended to recount Canadian history ahead of Canada 150 celebrations, but has faced criticism from francophones, the indigenous community and the premier of Nova Scotia for how regions and groups have been represented or gone unacknowledged. New Democrat MP Pierre Nantel’s broadly-worded motion asks CBC “to discuss the efforts of the corporation, by virtue of its mandate, to ensure the representation of First Nations, Inuit and Métis, and of francophones, and concerning the corporation’s activities in the context of the 150th anniversary of Canada.”
CTV has announced the first TV project culminating from a previously announced partnership between Bell Media and record executive Scott Borchetta (American Idol) of the Big Machine Label Group. Reinventing the music competition genre, six-part music series The Launch is set to premiere in 2018, delivering a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of a series of hit songs. Casting for the series is now open, with production set to begin in Toronto this summer.
HISTORY has announced the start of production on new Canadian original docu-series, Bud Dynasty. Filming got underway at Vancouver’s 4/20 event last week. The series follows cannabis culture entrepreneurs as they navigate Canada’s marijuana industry as it moves from the shadows of prohibition into the grow lights of legalization. Broadcast details are TBA.
The national public voting phase of the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance Inc. (CCSA) Tuned-In Canada Awards is open until May 4. Categories include Best Community Building Story, Best Community Channel Programming, Best On-Camera Community Channel Personality and Best Customer Service Story. Winners will be announced May 12.
Five of the Top 10 most-watched NHL broadcasts of all-time on Sportsnet were recorded in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with Sunday night’s Washington @ Toronto decisive Game 6 coming in at #1 with a reach of 8.4 million Canadians and an average audience of 3.47 million viewers. The five series featuring Canadian teams averaged 1.8 million viewers per game, while the overall average audience for all of Round 1 was 1.3 million viewers. Fans were also tuning to Sportsnet digital platforms with daily visitors to Sportsnet.ca up 36 per cent over last year, video views were up 45 per cent.
The CRTC has directed Rogers to let Telus broadcast Sportsnet in 4K to its subscribers in a dispute that centered around whether 4K qualifies as a new programming service. The “no head start rule” stipulates that new services be made available to all licensed broadcast distributors even if no commercial agreement is in place. Telus had asked the CRTC to intervene ahead of the Blue Jays’ first home game of the season.
DNCE, Iggy Azalea, Imagine Dragons, Jazz Cartier, Julia Michaels, and Lorde are the first performers announced for the 2017 iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards. The MMVAs air live Sunday, June 18 in simulcast on Much, CTV, and VRAK. The awards are also set to livestream on the iHeartRadio app as well as nine Virgin Radio stations, including Virgin Radio Toronto, Kitchener, London, Halifax, Montréal, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver.
Russell Peters’ first scripted TV series The Indian Detective has wrapped production in Toronto after shooting in South Africa and India earlier this year. The four-part, one-hour, comedic drama, is set to premiere as part of CTV’s 2017/18 schedule. The co-production between Big Light Productions, Blue Ice Pictures, Wonder Films and Bell Media stars Peters as a Toronto cop embroiled in a murder case while visiting his father, Stanley (Anupam Kher) in Mumbai.
