CBC has announced the complete roster of commentators, analysts and reporters who will provide extensive live coverage of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, July 26 – Aug. 11, across CBC and partner networks TSN and Sportsnet. Approximately one third of the broadcast team will be on the ground in Paris, including 16 reporters. CBC/Radio-Canada will also provide Indigenous language coverage for 3×3 basketball, canoe/kayak, skateboarding and wrestling in Cree, Innu and Atikamekw, as well as basketball in Inuktitut. Also joining CBC’s programming lineup is Olympic FOMO, a new daily show launching July 27, hosted by radio duo Mark Strong and Jemeni, available across all platforms including CBC and CBC Gem, and daily as a podcast. Highlights include veteran broadcaster Dan Shulman with basketball play-by-play, NBA commentator Meghan McPeak providing analysis and Nabil Karim reporting from the sidelines; from the 3×3 basketball court: CEBL champion Michael Linklater and sportscaster Daniella Ponticelli; calling the debut of the sport of breaking are Mark Strong aka “Strizzzy” and Toronto B-Boy and hip hop artist, Adrian Bernard aka “Switch B.”
Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett will be honoured at the 2024 TIFF Tribute Awards as the recipient of the TIFF Share Her Journey Groundbreaker Award. Blanchett will also participate in an In Conversation With… event. The TIFF Tribute Awards is a fundraising event taking place Sunday, Sept. 8 at Fairmont Royal York Hotel, with proceeds going towards TIFF’s Every Story Fund, which champions diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in film.
TIFF has announced more World Premiere titles from the Gala and Special Presentation programmes. Eden is a survival thriller based on true events about the lengths we will go to in pursuit of a better life, directed by Ron Howard, written by Halifax-born Noah Pink and starring Jude Law, Ana de Armas and Sydney Sweeney; K-POPS, a dramatic comedy that takes inspiration from Grammy winner Anderson .Paak’s own life; Shepherds, an adaptation of the Canadian novel D’où viens tu, berger?, which follows a young advertising executive who trades in his Montreal life to become a shepherd in France; Superboys of Malegaon, a film based on the life of Nasir Shaikh, an amateur filmmaker from India, and what happens when filmmaking and friendships collide; and We Live in Time, a romance starring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield as a couple whose chance encounter changes their lives. The festival will kick off with David Gordon Green’sNutcrackers, starring Ben Stiller on Sept. 5, and close with Rebel Wilson’s directorial debut The Deb on Sept. 15.
Boat Rocker Media has sold its stake in talent management company Untitled Entertainment to TPG for $51.6M CAD and 8.8% of outstanding common equity in TPG’s new talent management company. TPG is the private-equity firm that had a majority stake in Creative Artists Agency (CAA), before selling it last year. In addition to CAA, its investments include Calm, DirecTV, Entertainment Partners, Fandom, MusixMatch, and Spotify. Boat Rocker says it intends to use the cash proceeds to increase its focus on investing in owned IP, particularly scripted television, documentary programming, and animation. As part of the transaction, Michel Pratte has been named CEO of the new company and Eric Taitz its COO. Pratte has worked for Boat Rocker for over 15 years in various leadership roles, while Taitz has been with the company since 2018.
Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency has invested over $645,000 to support the Screen Production Yukon Association (SPYA) and Shot in the Dark Productions to build capacity in Yukon’s screen media industry. The investment will assist SPYA to deliver on key priorities in production sector report, A Roadmap for Growth 2022-27, including providing industry-specific training, delivering a new northern screen industry conference, opening a new studio space, attracting more local productions, purchasing gear and updating its website and branding. Shot in the Dark Productions received $25,000 to provide professional puppetry training to help Northerners acquire the skills needed to work on the company’s new made-in-the-Yukon children’s television series, Northern Tails.
Corus Entertainment has cancelled Big Brother Canada after 12 seasons. In a memo, Corus Co-CEO Troy Reeb said Corus is extremely proud of the series unprecedented success, thanking Executive Producer Erin Brock and Host and Executive Producer Arisa Cox. “This series, and the production team behind it, have truly set the bar in creating entertaining unscripted television,” wrote Reeb.
Prime Monday Night Hockey has unveiled the 2024-25 regular-season Monday night schedule, which will commence Monday, Oct. 14 with the first exclusive game on Prime Video between the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins. The following Mondays feature the Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Toronto Maple Leafs, followed by the Leafs against the Winnipeg Jets. Prime Monday Night Hockey will stream all national regular season Monday night NHL games in English for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 NHL seasons in Canada at no extra cost to Prime members.
Woodbine Entertainment and Rogers Sports & Media have entered into a multi-year media rights agreement for The King’s Plate. As part of the agreement, the 165th Kings Plate on Saturday, Aug. 17 will air on both Sportsnet and Citytv, and stream on Sportsnet+ and Citytv+. The second and third legs of the Canadian Triple Crown – The Prince of Wales Stakes (at Fort Erie Race Track on Sept. 10) and the Breeders’ Stakes (Woodbine Racetrack on Sept. 29) – will also air on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+. Select international races will also air on Sportsnet, Sportsnet+, Citytv, and Citytv+.
CBC and Lionsgate have started principal photography on the fourth season of Son of a Critch (13×30) in St. John’s, NL. Recently recognized with the Cogeco Fund Audience Choice Award at the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards, the new season will premiere in winter 2025 on CBC Gem and CBC TV in Canada. Since the series first premiered in 2022, CBC says it has continued to rank as the most-watched original Canadian comedy and one of the Top 5 most-watched comedies overall in Canada. The public broadcaster says it also continues to be one of the most-streamed comedies on CBC Gem.
CTV will air ETALK Presents: Deadpool & Wolverine on July 24 ahead of the film’s premiere. ETALK brings fans together for the 30-minute special filming July 23 in front of a live studio audience in the iconic 299 Queen Street West parking lot at Bell Media headquarters in downtown Toronto. The special features an exclusive conversation between ETALK anchor Tyrone Edwards and stars Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, and director Shawn Levy as they delve into the making-of the third installment of the Deadpool franchise.
MusiquePlus will be revived in a one-night only special on Sept. 3, set to air on Crave, Noovoo and Noovoo.ca. The hour-long “MusiquePlus en Rappel” will be taped in August at Montreal’s Society for Arts and Technology in front of a live studio audience. Hosted by Chloée Deblois, it will feature guest appearances, nods to the channel’s heyday, and a local talent showcase with appearances by pop singer Soran, R&B musician Naomi and hip-hop artist Aswell. MusiquePlus launched in 1986, co-founded by Pierre Marchand and MuchMusic founder Moses Znaimer. The channel ceased broadcasting in 2019 when it was rebranded as Elle Fictions.
Sarah McLachlan
Dan Levy’s Not A Real Production Company, Elevation Pictures and CBC have announced that production has wrapped on the upcoming Lilith Fair documentary presented by White Horse Pictures in association with Epic Magazine. The film is produced with the support of the original Lilith Fair founders – Sarah McLachlan, Terry McBride, Dan Fraser, and Marty Diamond, who will executive produce. It’s directed by Ally Pankiw (I Used to Be Funny, Black Mirror, The Great) and tells the story of the groundbreaking music festival featuring only women artists, started by McLachlan and her team in the late ’90s in direct opposition to the prevailing “industry wisdom” that limited women from playing together on a concert bill and getting back-to-back airplay on the radio. Elevation will distribute theatrically in Canada, with the doc to premiere during the 2025-26 season of The Passionate Eye on CBC and CBC Gem.
Walt Disney Studios Canada will premiere the Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) version of Star Wars: A New Hope on Aug. 8 at Centennial Concert Hall in Winnipeg, ahead of its limited release in select markets. The Ojibwe dub was directed by Ellyn Stern Epcar, produced by Michael Kohn and stars Aandeg Jedi Muldrew (Luke Skywalker), Ajuawak Kapashesit (Han Solo), Theresa Eischen (Princess Leia), Dennis Daminos Chartrand (Darth Vader), Dustin Gerald Morrow Aagimewikamig (Obi-Wan Kenobi), and Tomantha Sylvester Nimi Anungo Kwe (C-3PO), among others. Partners in the project include Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council (DOTC), the University of Manitoba (UM), Disney/Lucasfilm, and APTN. Former Manitoba Liberal leader Dougald Lamont helped launch the project in 2021 after proposing it to Lucasfilm exec and former Winnipegger Pablo Hidalgo as a language revitalization project in support of reconciliation. The film will make its debut on Disney+ and APTN on a future date.
Thunderbird Distribution has announced a host of catalogue-title sales across scripted, kids and family, and unscripted genres. They include Kim’s Convenience, which has been picked up by Fuse Media (Season 1) for its U.S. linear channel, and Encore Airlines (Season 5); Molly of Denali, which has been picked up by Canadian pubcasters TVO and Knowledge Network (Season 2); 10 90-minute installments of celebrity-focused docuseries I Am, including I Am Steve McQueen, I Am Chris Farley and I Am Heath Ledger, which are now available on Tubi (Canada) and Roku.
