CBC/Radio-Canada French Services, Groupe V Média (V), Bell Media (Canal Vie, Canal D, Z and VRAK),TV5 Québec Canada (TV5 and Unis TV) and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) have announced agreement to enrich the content offering of the ICI TOU.TV EXTRA platform. With a view to increasing the supply of French-language programming in the digital TV market, the agreement sees a broad range of content from those media outlets made available on ICI TOU.TV EXTRA, including fiction, docu-reality, magazine and documentary programming, totalling nearly 700 additional hours of television. The content offering is set to grow over time. ICI TOU.TV, launched in 2010, and is one of the leading French-language digital video-on-demand platforms in Canada.
Republic TV, India’s English-language news channel startup, has announced its programming will be aired in Canada on Asian Television Network (ATN). Republic TV shows include The Debate and Nation Wants to Know, hosted by the channel’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, in addition to lighter fare like R. Glitz, which showcases the latest news from Bollywood.
The CRTC has authorized the One America News Network (OAN) for distribution in Canada, based on a request from Ethnic Channels Group Limited. Based in San Diego, the 24-hour news service is owned by millionaire Robert Herring Sr., and is known for its pro-Trump and Republican sympathies.
Telefilm Canada is investing close to $13 million in 10 French-language feature films from Quebec. View a synopsis of the projects here.
Unifor, the union representing journalists and media workers at Rogers’ OMNI TV stations in Vancouver and Toronto, is asking the CRTC to impose stringent conditions on any new multi-language news licensee. Rogers is one of eight applicants vying for the multi-ethnic television news service. Unifor is calling on the CRTC to impose a fair wage policy as a condition of licence and bar the winning applicant from contracting out to cheaper labour providers. Unifor continues to decry Rogers’ move to farm out production of its Chinese language newscasts to Fairchild Media which it says has created an editorial monopoly on Chinese-language news in Canada. The CRTC deadline for public interventions is May 17.
Bell Media has moved up the 2018 iHeartRadio MMVAs to Sunday, Aug. 26. Mike Cosentino, president, Content and Programming, says the new date will establish the event as a “marquee, end-of-summer party” that will create a new back-to-school tradition for music fans. The event will once again see CTV, Much and iHeartRadio join forces to broadcast the legendary Queen & John street party, across Bell Media’s platforms.
Blue Ant Media has new carriage deals for Love Nature 4K, its family-friendly wildlife and nature channel, across Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Myanmar. They include First Media, leading broadband internet service and Pay TV provider, in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea-based Pay TV provider Digicel Play. In Myanmar, the channel will be featured on Canal+ Myanmar FG, a national pay TV service that operates in partnership with local media player Forever.
CBC, 3Bird Media and Entertainment One (eOne) have announced new factual entertainment series Back In Time For Dinner (6×60) will premiere June 14 on CBC. Hosted by Carlo Rota (Great Canadian Food Show, Little Mosque on the Prairie, 24) and based on the Warner Bros. format of the same name, the social experiment takes a Canadian family on a whirlwind trip back in time as they eat their way through six decades of Canadian life. Starting in the 1940s and landing in the 1990s, the Mississauga home of the Campus family will become a virtual time machine as it’s transformed into a new decade each week. Guest stars include Sharon Hampson and Bram Morrison of Canadian music trio Sharon, Lois and Bram; Hockey Night In Canada host Ron MacLean, Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod of Body Break and TV personality Jeanne Beker.
CTV has announced that casting for Season 2 of reality competition series The Launch is now open. Production is set to begin in Toronto this fall for the 2018/19 season. The deadline for submissions is June 11 at 11:59 PM ET. For casting details and updates, including instructions on how to apply, fans can visit CTV.ca/TheLaunch or the CTV Facebook page.
Corus Entertainment-owned Nelvana has secured exclusive Canadian broadcast and licensing rights to Sesame Street. The company has struck a partnership with Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational organization behind the children’s program. Nelvana will exclusively broadcast Sesame Street and Sesame Studios’ content in Canada on Corus specialty channel Treehouse and across the network’s non-linear platforms. Nelvana will also represent Sesame Street within the Canadian licensed consumer products community.
Corus Entertainment has renewed eight Canadian series including HGTV Canada’s Backyard Builds, Love It or List It Vancouver, Property Brothers, Property Brothers: Buying and Selling, $ave My Reno and Worst to First; Food Network Canada’s Carnival Eats; and Global Television’s Border Security: America’s Front Line. The renewals follow Corus Studios’ MIPTV greenlight announcement of three new original Canadian series slated for launch in 2018/2019.
