TORONTO – Kids’ CBC has hired Marie McCann and Drew Mullin as executives in charge of production for children’s content, the public broadcaster said Monday.
Mullin, an international award-winning writer, director, producer and composer, has been creating children’s media, performing arts programs and commercials for two decades. He has co-developed and directed more than a dozen multi-platform series for TVO and helped to shape its live programming block.
McCann returns to CBC, after holding the same role from 2007 to 2012. McCann previously headed-up the preschool team at TVO, where she led the creation of programs including Gisele's Big Backyard and Kids' Canada. She is also the author…
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VANCOUVER – Former CBC Radio exec Chris Boyce has joined podcasting and branded content start-up Pacific Content as it seeks to expand east into the Toronto market.
Boyce (pictured) was formerly executive director of radio and audio for the national broadcaster but departed in April 2015 in the wake of a workplace investigation report into inappropriate behaviour by fired radio host Jian Ghomeshi.
In his new role as a principal, Boyce will establish a Toronto presence for the rapidly expanding Pacific Content team, which has grown from two to ten people in the past three months. Pacific Content said that…
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OTTAWA – As more Canadians abandon their landlines in favour of wireless, these “cell phone only" households are distinct in their media habits, says a new report from Media Technology Monitoring (MTM).
According to the latest Statistics Canada findings, 21% of Canadian households are now reported to be using a cell phone as their sole form of telephone service. The report Cell Phone Only Households: Analysis of the Canadian Market provides an overview of the cell phone only individual with respect to demographics, technology ownership and media use, and compares this group to cell phone owners who also have a…
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TORONTO – Bell Media has revealed the five applicants selected to participate in the 2016 Executive Producer Accelerator Lab program that kicks off on January 11.
Now in its third year, the two-part program provides mid-level television producers with unique hands-on training to assist their career advancement within Canada’s television industry.
About the recipients:
– John Griffith (Toronto)
A business affairs consultant for the film and television industry, John is also the producer of the award-winning feature A Little Bit Zombie, which was screened at a number of festivals, and the half-hour CBC comedy pilot Human Town, winner of the 2015 National…
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TORONTO – CBC and distributor Banijay International have selected the first original Canadian television format under their nascent Format Incubator initiative.
Anything But Average (working title) is an original factual concept from Frantic Films that was selected jointly by CBC’s Unscripted Content team and Banijay International. The series bills itself as the ultimate nation-defining format for the nosy neighbour inside all of us. By exploring the lives of statistically average Canadians — who are the same on paper, but very different in reality — this entertaining, engaging and fact-filled format asks what it means to be an “average” Canadian…
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OTTAWA – Prime Time in Ottawa is serving up an opportunity for attendees to dine with top industry executives.
The new ‘Breakfast With’ feature allows registered conference delegates to reserve their spot at the breakfast table with one of:
– Christian Rank, Executive Producer, TV 2 Denmark;
– Janet Brown, CEO, FilmBuff;
– Greg Rubidge, Founder and President, Syndicado;
– Rob Kenneally, TV Agent, Creative Artists Agency;
– Sam Toles, Head of Global Content Acquisitions and Distribution, Vimeo;
– Patrick Roy, President, Entertainment One Films Canada & Les Films Séville;
– Tone C. Rønning, Commissioning Editor, Drama and Arts, NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation);
– John Hadity, Executive Vice…
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TORONTO – CBC has promoted Abby Ho to senior producer, head of the new CBC Fullscreen Creator Network.
The initiative, announced in September, aims to help Canadian content creators reach new audiences across the country through CBC, YouTube, and other distribution platforms.
Ho (pictured) will oversee the development of the Creator Network and advance the CBC’s YouTube strategy by retaining and acquiring new Canadian content-creators and looking for new opportunities to integrate the partnership into CBC programming, reads the announcement.
Previously, Ho was in charge of CBC's digital comedy brand Punchline, and was the digital and social content producer for all CBC-TV comedies including…
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HAMILTON – CHCH-TV Hamilton is denying claims that it cut staff, declared bankruptcy and then re-formed as a new company in order to sidestep contractual obligations to its union.
According to a CBC News report, an email from a CHCH accounts manager leaked to media claims that CH management cut dozens of employees in order to form a new company "free of old Union employees and their demands".
"We just needed to disband the previous company and form a new one where changes could be made, free from old Union employees and their demands and free from carryover debt of CanWest,"…
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TORONTO – CBC/Radio-Canada has added to CBC Sports executive director Greg Stremlaw’s responsibilities, naming him general manager and chef de mission for its coverage of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Stremlaw (pictured) joined CBC Sports in September. As GM and chef de mission, he will continue to work closely with key stakeholders to ensure CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage of the Olympic Games achieves the collective goal of bringing the country together through the unifying power inherent in sport, reads Friday’s announcement. Stakeholders include broadcast partners Bell and Rogers, Canada’s national sport organizations, the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Committees, and Own the Podium.
“Having…
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OTTAWA – With the vast majority of Millennials owning portable media devices, some 90% simultaneously go online and watch TV, says a new report from Media Technology Monitoring (MTM).
The report, A Profile of Millennials’ Media Technology Adoption and Use: Analysis of the English-Language Market, profiles Millennial Anglophones and their ownership and use of media technology. It separates Millennials (18 to 34 year olds) into two groups, with Gen Z defined as those aged 18-25, and Gen Ys defined as those aged 26-34 years old.
Highlights from the report include:
– Anglophone Millennials report spending more than 30 hours online weekly;
– Over nine in ten…
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