TORONTO – CBC’s docu-drama series Canada: The Story Of Us will wrap up shooting later this month and will air in 2017 as part of the public broadcaster’s lineup of original programming commissioned to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary.
Based on Nutopia’s The Story of Us, the 10 x 60-minute series tells the extraordinary tale of the people, places and events that shaped Canada, including the stories of Indigenous peoples and immigrants, pioneers and rule breakers, and scientists and entrepreneurs who forged a nation in a vast and harsh land. The series will combine fact-based drama with CGI animation, and feature interviews with…
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TORONTO – Accessible Media Inc. (AMI)’s coverage of the Toronto Blue Jays’ Canada Day matchup against the Cleveland Indians garnered more than 20,000 viewers per minute, making it one of AMI-tv’s highest ranking live described events.
Quoting Numeris data, AMI-tv said that it recorded AMA 2+ of 20.4 over the 6.5 hour game, with ratings peaking at 26.0 between 3:00 – 3:30 PM ET, marking the broadcast as the highest Jays game to date.
AMI's director of programming Brian Perdue said that AMI-tv usually averages audiences closer to 7.0 in a 24 hour period, and suggested that southern Ontario’s stormy weather…
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TORONTO – With one month to go until the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, CBC/Radio-Canada officially launched the main online hubs for its coverage which this year also includes a website geared towards young Canadians.
The public broadcaster said Tuesday that cbc.ca/olympics and ICI.Radio-Canada.ca/jeuxolympiques will serve as viewers’ best resources for where, when and how to enjoy the Olympic Games. The sites include TV and online broadcast schedules, competition schedules and results, a live medal table, audio and video features including live-streaming feeds, on-demand video and podcasts, the latest on Team Canada and a spotlight page featuring extended Olympic Games-related content. In…
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MONTREAL – Former CBC and TVA exec René Bourdages has been named director general, creation and innovation at the NFB, effective September 1st.
Bourdages (pictured) is the founder and CEO of consulting firm Elevado Media, and was also president of the merchandising division at CBC; EVP broadcasting and operations at TVA/Quebecor; and EVP of programming, sales and marketing at Astral Media.
At NFB, he will oversee the interactive studios in Vancouver and Montreal and both English program and French program (animation and documentary), in line with the specific objectives of each.
“With daring and creativity comes risk. And to continue to be a…
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Nextologies is changing the economics of signal transport
SLAVA LEVIN WANTS to show me something.
We walk through his new building in Markham, past his master control which now offers 107 TV channels to Canadian distributors (making ECG the largest broadcaster in Canada, by number of channels), past one of his studios where a Canadian Filipino-language talk show is being shot, and through a tech-cluttered storage area to a set of tight, narrow stairs and then a ladder.
We’re now on the roof among 27 satellite dishes pointed out to the present and future of far lower-cost signal transport than the TV…
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OTTAWA – BCE, Rogers and Videotron have added 11 new defendants to their legal action against the sale of TV set top boxes pre-loaded with applications that they claim allows access to their copyrighted content.
The three big TV companies last month joined forces against named defendants iTVBox.net, My Electronics, Android Bros Inc., WatchNSaveNow Inc. and MtlFreeTV.com and won a temporary injunction to stop them from selling the loaded boxes until the matter is resolved. According to a CBC News report, 11 Android box dealers were added on June 20.
The Android boxes, ranging in price from $40 to $250, are…
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TORONTO – Veteran sports broadcaster Ron MacLean will replace George Stroumboulopoulos as the main host of Hockey Night in Canada starting next season, Sportsnet confirmed Monday.
Stroumboulopoulos, brought in two years ago when Rogers first announced its monster $5.2 billion, 12-year NHL deal, is leaving the company to explore new creative opportunities, reads the news release. MacLean will host the first game on Saturday nights and former HNIC reporter David Amber (pictured left, with MacLean) will host the second game of the weekly double-header.
MacLean will continue to host Coach’s Corner with Don Cherry in the first intermission of…
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TORONTO – CBC and Netflix are joining forces with Halfire Entertainment to adapt Margaret Atwood’s award-winning novel Alias Grace into a new six-hour miniseries.
Inspired by the historical true story of convicted murderer Grace Marks and based on Atwood’s novel, the series is being written and produced by Sarah Polley (Looking for Alaska, Take this Waltz, Away from Her) and will be directed by Mary Harron (American Psycho, I Shot Andy Warhol). Production is scheduled to begin in Ontario this August.
Alias Grace will be broadcast in Canada on CBC and will stream globally on Netflix.
"We’re beyond thrilled to collaborate with this amazingly talented team of Canadian…
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TORONTO – CBC will air and live stream the final concert of the Tragically Hip’s farewell tour on August 20 from the band’s hometown in Kingston, Ontario.
The public broadcaster said Friday that the broadcast will begin at 8:30 ET and air live and commercial-free across CBC Television, CBC Radio One, CBC Radio 2, CBC’s YouTube channels, and cbcmusic.ca. The 15-date sold out cross-Canada tour coincides with the release of the band’s 14th studio album, Man Machine Poem, and was announced after frontman Gord Downie (pictured, centre) revealed that he was diagnosed with an incurable form of brain cancer.
“The Tragically Hip’s enigmatic…
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OTTAWA – While awareness of Ultra HD (4K) is growing among Canadians, only 4% of Canadians report owning a 4K TV set, according to new research from the Media Technology Monitor (MTM).
Key topics this year, according to its free Top 5 Sneak Peek Report, include streaming music services, Ultra HD, online banking, ad blockers, and skinny basic TV packages.
MTM also released its Media Technology Adoption Spring 2016: Analysis of the English-language Market which is a summary of penetration trends for many of the technologies it measures. The report covers audio and…
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