TV & Film News – Lisa LaFlamme captures fourth straight Canadian Screen Award for Best National News Anchor

The 2021 Canadian Screen Awards have been virtually handed this week out during three of four nights of online awards presentations. On night one – which recognized News & Documentary and Lifestyle & Reality programming – Lisa LaFlamme captured Best News Anchor, National for a fourth year in a row, while Best National Reporter went to CBC’s Christine Birak and Best Local Reporter to CBC Vancouver’s Angela Sterritt. Dwight Drummond of CBC Toronto’s News at 6 claimed the award for Best Local Anchor. Find the list of winners in Children’s & Animation and Digital & Immersive, here and those recognized in Creative Arts & Performance categories, here.

Saturday Night Live cast member Kenan Thompson, Orange is the New Black star Danielle Brooks and soon-to-be Marvel superhero Simu Liu are among this year’s Banff Media Festival Rockies Gala Award honourees. Set to stream live on YouTube on June 15 at 3 p.m. ET, the event will be hosted by comedian and YouTube personality Jasmeet Raina. The Program of the Year Award and The Grand Jury Prize, awarded to the highest scoring project in the Rockies Program Competition, will also be presented.

Telefilm Canada is relaunching the International Promotion Program, previously known as the Participation in International Festivals and Events Support Program, with important changes. Offering financial support to Canadian producers, distributors and sales agents whose eligible projects were officially selected at an international festival, the list of eligible festivals has been updated and broadened, with more flexibility in regards to eligible costs. The program opens June 14 and closes Feb. 25, 2022, subject to availability of funds. In keeping with federal advisories, travel expenses remain excluded from eligible costs until further notice.

Peterson Polaris Corp. has announced it has acquired the English-language remake rights to hit Danish tween television series Skyldig (Guilty) from DR International, Denmark’s national broadcaster. The deal, led by producers Michael Peterson and Lars Lehmann, will see Peterson Polaris Corp. develop the remake. Described by Peterson as “Scandinavian Noir for a younger audience,” the series follows 12-year-old Jonas as he tries to solve the riddle of a mysterious school fire. Peterson is executive producer of CBC Gem series Ming’s Dynasty, and co-creator of APTN series The Secret History of The Wild West.

TSN will deliver live coverage of all 64 games of the 2021 IIHF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, May 21 – June 6 from Riga, Latvia. Broadcasting in accordance with local COVID-19 protocols, play-by-play commentator Gord Miller and analyst Mike Johnson deliver the call live from Riga for all games in Group B, including Team Canada and medal round games. TSN’s Dennis Beyak and analyst Dave Tomlinson bring viewers the call for all games in Group A. Reporters Lindsay Hamilton and Claire Hanna will be on-site as host reporters. From the TSN studio, Rod Black shares hosting duties with Laura Diakun, alongside analysts Dave Reid and making his TSN debut, former Ottawa Senators defenceman Marc Methot. Ray Ferraro joins remotely for select games, including all Canada and USA games. Find the network’s complete broadcast schedule here.

The Basketball Africa League (BAL) has announced broadcast partnerships with TSN, Canal+, ESPN, beIN SPORTS, NBA TV, Tencent Video, American Forces Network (AFN) and Voice of America (VOA). The inaugural BAL season tipped off Sunday, May 16 and will reach fans in 215 countries and territories in 15 Languages. 

Kidoodle.TV, from Calgary-based A Parent Media Co. Inc. (APMC), is growing its linear offering with Samsung TV Plus as it expands to select Galaxy mobile and tablet devices. Samsung TV Plus is Samsung’s free ad-supported Smart TV video service that comes pre-installed on all 2016-21 Smart TVs. Galaxy device users can download the Samsung TV Plus app through Google Play or Galaxy Store to access hundreds of free streaming channels. The Kidoodle.TV linear channel offers a selection of its kid-focused library of 25,000+ episodes, joining a number of other kid-friendly channels in the Samsung TV Plus line-up.