Super Channel One (SC1) and Super Channel Two (SC2) will be rebranded as Super Channel Fuse and Super Channel Heart & Home, starting June 4. They’ll join existing channels, Super Channel Vault and GINX Esports TV Canada, to form a newly-branded suite of channels, under the Super Channel Entertainment Network flag. Details of the rebrand, including what the company says will be a fresh new on-air and online look, will be unveiled later this spring.
The CW has acquired Manitoba-produced legal drama Burden of Truth for its summer original-programming slate. Starring Kristin Kreuk (Smallville) as a big-city lawyer who returns to her hometown, the 10-part serial drama is produced by ICF Films, eOne, and Eagle Vision. Licensed to Hulu for second window rights in the U.S., a second season has already been commissioned by the CBC.
Super Channel has commissioned a second season of PURE from Two East Productions and Cineflix, after it was dropped by CBC after its first season. The six-part Super Channel Original Production will tell the continuing story of Noah and Anna Funk, Mennonites trying to protect their family and preserve their faith while battling drug trafficking within their community. The second season is scheduled to begin production in Nova Scotia later this spring and anticipated to premiere on Super Channel in early 2019. Created and written by Michael Amo (The Listener), with Ken Girotti (Orphan Black, Vikings) as the series director, they’ll also serve as executive producers for the second season, along with Brett Burlock, Peter Emerson and David MacLeod (Call Me Fitz, Haven). Cineflix Rights retains exclusive worldwide distribution rights to PURE.
Bell Media’s The Harold Greenberg Fund, in partnership with Creative BC, has announced The Harold Greenberg Fund’s BC Shorts Program, a new short film finance initiative. The program is designed to finance short films from BC filmmaking teams, showcase new creative visions and further the careers of writers, producers, and directors as they move towards feature filmmaking. Three recipients will receive $20,000 each to create short, impactful standalone films. The deadline for applications June 1.
The CRTC has rejected Unifor’s complaint against Rogers’ move to contract out its OMNI Regional Chinese language newscasts to competitor Fairchild TV. Unifor locals 723M and 830M, which represent employees at OMNI in Vancouver and Toronto, along with The Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, and Urban Alliance on Race Relations argued contracting out the newscasts violated Rogers condition of license. The CRTC ruled Rogers’ condition of license to “produce the news” does not prevent it from subcontracting to a rival licensee.
The Comedy Network says the series premiere of Corner Gas Animated is now the highest-rated debut in its history. Preliminary Numeris data confirms that 360,300 viewers have watched the Apr. 2 debut episode “Bone Dry.” With final playback data still to come, the premiere surpasses that of Anger Management, which previously was the top-rated series debut on Comedy, dating back to 2012. In addition to setting a record for Comedy, Corner Gas Animated was the #1 entertainment specialty program on Apr. 2 among all key demos (A18-34, A18-49, and A25-54).
The TVO Short Doc Contest 2018 is calling all Ontarians to enter their short documentaries by July 15. The theme for this year’s contest is DIY Docs, and encourages residents to submit their video stories and share their perspective on a subject they feel passionate about. No previous documentary making experience is required. Participants are invited to enter original short documentaries up to 4 minutes, 45 seconds in length.
CBC has partnered with Don Carmody Television (DCTV) to develop a scripted adaptation of the 2018 Canada Reads-winning book Forgiveness, written by Mark Sakamoto. Rob King, who wrote and directed 2017 International Emmy Award-nominated historical drama Tokyo Trial for Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) and Netflix, has been attached to write the screen-based adaptation of Forgiveness. Poet and novelist Joy Kogawa, along with Mark Sakamoto, have both boarded the production as creative consultants.
Kathy Le, reporter and anchor at CTV News Calgary, is the recipient of a Spirit of NAIT Alumni Award. A 2011 graduate of NAIT’s Radio and Televison Arts program, Le was promoted to weekend anchor in Sept. 2017 after joining CTV Calgary in 2012.
