WIFT Toronto honoured five outstanding women at the 35th annual Crystal Awards Gala on Dec. 6. Established in 1988, the annual WIFT Toronto tribute recognizes individuals making significant contributions to Canadian screen-based media. This year’s honourees included: Christa Dickenson, President & CEO, Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC), who was honoured with the Special Jury Award of Distinction; Jocelyn Hamilton, President, Television, Canada, Entertainment One (Outstanding Achievement in Business); Sarah Polley, Filmmaker/Author (Creative Excellence Award); Ramona Pringle, Director, Creative Innovation Studio (Digital Trailblazer Award); and Frances-Anne Solomon, Founder & CEO, CaribbeanTales Media Group (Mentorship Award).
The 2023 Leo Awards are now open for submissions, recognizing film and television content produced in British Columbia. Qualifying programs must have been completed between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2022. Learn more here.
Crave has announced a long-term, exclusive Pay-One window licensing agreement with Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) that will see the streamer become home to a library of content that includes the Spider-Man, Jumanji and Ghostbusters franchises. The deal gives Bell Media-owned Crave first pay window rights to new and upcoming SPE titles in Canada following their theatrical and home entertainment windows. Starting in April, Crave will become the exclusive Canadian streaming home of all new SPE feature films, including upcoming titles from the Sony Pictures’ Marvel universe like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Kraven the Hunter, and Madame Web. Along with new installments of the Insidious and The Equalizer franchises, other original films include No Hard Feelings and Gran Turismo, among others. Read more here.
Major League Soccer (MLS) has announced new four-year linear television agreements in the U.S. and Canada: FOX Sports (FOX/FS1/FOX Deportes) and TelevisaUnivision (Univision/UNIMÁS/TUDN) in the U.S., and TSN and RDS in Canada. MLS say the new linear agreements complement its 10-year partnership with Apple starting next year that will feature MLS Season Pass and provide fans with an unprecedented broadcast package. The four-year television agreements are strategically designed to run through 2026 when the FIFA World Cup will be hosted by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. In Canada, TSN and RDS will have an extensive schedule of regular season matches – with at least one match per week featuring a Canadian team – along with eight playoff matches and MLS Cup every year.
Global has announced its winter 2023 programming lineup, which includes hotly-anticipated new series, Accused. Created by Emmy-winning producer Howard Gordon (Homeland, 24), the 15-episode crime anthology thriller debuts Sunday, Jan. 22 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, then moves to its regular time period beginning Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. From Sony Pictures Television, Accused stars Michael Chiklis, Abigail Breslin, Whitney Cummings, Margo Martindale, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Wendell Pierce, Rachel Bilson, Jack Davenport, Molly Parker, and directors Billy Porter, Marlee Matlin, Tazbah Chavez and Chiklis. New seasons of Global fan-favourites also return this winter including Season 2 of Fantasy Island premiering Jan. 2, while the Blacklist returns for a landmark 10th season on Feb. 26.
ICE-BREAKER – The ‘72 Summit Series from Robbie Hart of Montreal’s Adobe Productions and Peter Raymont of White Pine Pictures in Toronto is set to make its English Canadian broadcast premiere on Dec. 27 on Super Channel Fuse and On Demand the same day. The film is based in-part on former diplomat and author Gary J. Smith’s behind-the-scenes book, Ice War Diplomat: Hockey Meets Cold War Politics at the 1972 Summit Series. Wayne Gretzky, Ron Maclean, Margaret Trudeau, Harnarayan Singh, Angela James, Daniele Sauvageau, and Terry Mosher, among others, bring their perspectives to the film.
discovery+ is now available on Prime Video in Canada. Subscribers can now access a comprehensive library of 60,000+ episodes of original series and content, including HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, OWN, Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Magnolia Network, along with more than 200 discovery+ original titles. The service also features non-fiction content from A&E, The HISTORY Channel and Lifetime. The ad-free version of discovery+ is available on Prime Video for $6.99 CAD per month.
STACKTV, Corus Entertainment’s multi-channel streaming service, is expanding with three new channels from Disney: Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD. STACKTV is currently available to Amazon Prime Video subscribers, Rogers Ignite TV and Ignite Streaming customers, in addition to FuboTV customers.
Stingray’s new Karaoke app is now available on all Samsung Smart TVs worldwide, giving users access to over 70,000 licensed songs to sing along to across pop, rock, country, R&B, hip-hop, and Disney, among other genres. Browseable by title, artist, lyrics, or genre in more than 25 languages, the app also includes skipping, rewinding, and fast-forwarding features, turning background videos on or off, and singing along with or without lead vocals.
