CBC/Radio-Canada says between the Opening Ceremony on Feb. 9 and the Closing Ceremony on Feb. 25, 31 million Canadians tuned in to watch its coverage of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 across all English and French television network partners, digital streaming simulcasts and its Olympics apps. Many Canadians adapted to the 14- to 17-hour time difference with audiences for CBC’s overnight coverage of the Games alone, 767 per cent higher than its average overnight block. The most-watched moment of the Games was Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir’s gold-medal winning ice dance free skate performance on Feb. 19 which drew 5.7 million viewers (CBC, TSN1, TSN3 and TSN4), with the sudden-death shootout at the end of the Canada vs. USA women’s gold medal hockey game coming in second with 4.8 million viewers (CBC, TSN1, TSN2, Sportsnet and Sportsnet ONE). Read more here.
The Federal Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of BCE Inc., Rogers, Videotron and TVA Group in their copyright infringement case against Adam Lackman, the man behind TV AddOns, a software application used with Kodi. A civil search warrant order was carried out a property connected to Lackman last June, which a second judge found to be unlawful. Justice Yves de Montigny has now ruled in favour of the telecoms’ appeal, saying they have a strong case.
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) says the contest program Game Time, broadcast on CHCH-TV Hamilton, breached the Contest provision of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Code of Ethics for the display of an inaccurate puzzle answer and for lack of transparency in a word-search solution. Viewers of the show are invited to call to solve puzzles and win cash prizes. Each call costs $1 regardless of whether or not the call is randomly selected to be put through to the host. The CBSC investigated two complaints, one over a graphic that involved counting triangles, showing the solution contained triangles that were not in the original picture. The second complaint was that the program is generally unclear about the rules and telephone selection process. The CBSC recommended the program ensure its on-screen scroll is clearly legible and that the information also be provided verbally by the host.
Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has secured international distribution rights to Bell Media and Big Machine Label Group collaboration The Launch. SPT will distribute the reality competition music format worldwide, excluding Canada, and has its production company, Electric Ray, on board to produce the show in the U.K. The historic deal represents the first time a Bell Media original television format for CTV has been sold for international distribution. In addition, SPT will also distribute the Canadian series for sale outside of Canada.
Arcade Fire will be recognized with The JUNO International Achievement Award at the JUNO Gala Dinner & Awards Presented by SOCAN and perform on CBC’s broadcast of The JUNO Awards on Sunday, Mar. 25. The award recognizes Canadian artists who have achieved exemplary success on a global scale. Arcade Fire head into the JUNOs with four nominations, including Album of the Year, Group of the Year, Alternative Album of the Year and Single of the Year for Everything Now.
CTV and CTV GO will air the 90th Oscars, live on Sunday, Mar. 4. Their coverage begins with live red carpet special ETalk at the Oscars, leading into Oscars Opening Ceremony: Live From The Red Carpet, prior to the main event hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
ACTRA Toronto has announced the winners of its 16th Annual ACTRA Awards. Sheila McCarthy took home the prize for Outstanding Performance for Cardinal, while Stuart Hughes won in the male category for The Drawer Boy. Outstanding Performance – Voice was awarded to Saara Chaudry for her role in The Breadwinner. Baroness Von Sketch Show snagged the The Members Choice Series Ensemble Award. Jennifer Podemski was presented ACTRA Toronto’s 2018 Award of Excellence.
Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse will be the face of new television dance competition Revolution, developed by TVA, Québecor Content and Fair-Play. Set to air this fall, TVA is holding auditions in Montreal, starting Mar. 10.
CTV’s The Social will celebrate its milestone 1,000th episode on Friday, Mar. 9 on CTV and CTV GO. CTV plans to produce a Facebook Live 360 degree broadcast of the episode simultaneously on Facebook.com/TheSocialCTV, providing an in-depth, interactive companion viewing experience. Now in its fifth season, CTV says The Social garners an average weekly reach of 3 million viewers on CTV, CTV Two, and E!.
Space has the exclusive Canadian broadcast premiere of much-anticipated Superman prologue series Krypton. Celebrating the 80th anniversary of Superman, the series will make its debut Mar. 21 at 10 p.m. ET.
