CBC to launch two new FAST channels as part of 2023-24 programming slate

CBC has announced plans to launch two new free ad-supported streaming (FAST) channels this fall.

Following the launch of CBC News Explore last November, the public broadcaster will introduce CBC Comedy, featuring CBC original comedy series like Run the Burbs, Son of a Critch and Sort Of, in addition to standup specials. CBC News BC will broadcast the biggest stories of the day from Canada’s West Coast, with additional local CBC News streaming channels to be made available on connected TVs, the CBC News App and its CBC Gem streaming platform in the New Year.

CBC’s 2023-24 programming slate for CBC TV and CBC Gem features over 40 new and returning original series and more than 4,000 hours of new programming.

One More Time, from creator and standup comedian D.J. Demers (The Tonight Show, Conan) and showrunner Jessie Gabe (Workin’ Moms, Mr. D), was the only original comedy announced Thursday. Set to premiere in Winter 2024 (13×30), the workplace comedy stars Demers as a fictionalized version of himself, playing the hearing-impaired manager of a second-hand sporting goods store.

New original drama series announced include BLACKBERRY (Premieres Fall 2023, 3×60, Rhombus Media and Zapruder Films). Directed by Matt Johnson (Nirvanna the Band the Show), it follows the story of Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie and the spectacular rise and catastrophic demise of the world’s first smartphone. Adapted from the book Losing the Signal by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff, BLACKBERRY originated at CBC, where Losing the Signal was optioned and developed over the course of four years as a feature film. CBC says the extended three-part series includes exclusive never-before-seen footage, starring Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton, and Johnson.

Bones Of Crows: The Series, premiering this fall, is an expanded version of the feature film. The five-part hour-long drama is told through the eyes of Cree Matriarch, Aline Spears (played throughout her life by Summer Testawich, Grace Dove, and Carla Rae) as she survives Canada’s residential school system to continue her family’s generational fight in the face of systemic starvation, racism, and sexual abuse. Also set to debut in Winter 2024 are ALLEGIANCE (10×60, Lark Productions), a character-driven police procedural set around rookie cop Sabrina Singh, who finds herself caught between her loyalty to the job and her family when her father, the Minister of Public Safety, is arrested on terror charges; and Wild Cards (10×60, piller/segan, Blink 49 and Front Street Pictures), a crime-solving procedural with a comedic twist that follows the unlikely duo of a gruff, sardonic cop and a clever con woman, set in Vancouver.

CBC also announced new original factual series, The Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down (Premieres Winter 2024; 8×60; Frantic Films), a competition series in which 10 of Canada’s most talented potters compete to be crowned best at the wheel. The show is based on the UK format, which has aired on BBC and Channel 4 for five seasons.

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