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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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,"…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – With its two Discoverability Summit pre-events set for next week, the CRTC has unveiled the expert participants tapped for the ‘En route to the Discoverability Summit’ confabs in Vancouver and Montreal.
The event in Vancouver, scheduled for December 1st at The Chan Centre for Performing Arts from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM, will be moderated by CBC Radio Spark host and creator Nora Young, and feature Tony Chapman, founder and CEO of Tony Chapman Reactions, as the keynote speaker.
Discussions will focus on English-language markets, and expert participants include Sara Diamond, President and Vice-Chancellor, OCAD University; Ashkan Karbasfrooshan, CEO…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – CBC and Insight Productions are partnering on a new drama series based on the novel Tempting Faith DiNapoli by Canadian author Lisa Gabriele.
Set in Windsor's Little Italy and the francophone enclave of Belle River, ON, Tempting Faith DiNapoli tells the story of what it means to grow up in a broke, blue-collar, loving, dysfunctional, God-fearing, yet increasingly faithless family. After Nancy DiNapoli’s marriage falls apart and their immigrant community turns its back on the family, this scrappy single mother and her four unruly teens must start all over again. Faith tries to keep it together, even while everything around…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Broadcast audience measurement company Numeris has named Neil McEneaney as its new president and CEO, effective January 11, 2016.
McEneaney, pictured, has been with CBC for the last 15 years, most recently as its chief business officer, reads Tuesday’s announcement. Prior to this, he spent nine years in print where he held various senior leadership roles at the National Post and The Gazette as part of Southam Inc.
McEneaney will be replacing outgoing president and CEO Jim MacLeod who announced his retirement from Numeris in April of this year.
“The Numeris Board feels that Neil’s extensive leadership experience and knowledge…
Continue Reading
TWO OUT OF EVERY THREE Canadian households can stream over-the-top video services via their television sets using a dedicated streaming device or a game console or a laptop/PC, according to new research from Toronto’s Solutions Research Group.
The fall edition of the company’s syndicated Digital Life survey, which is based on 1,000 interviews in September 2015, took a close look at OTT video and TVE among other subjects and found:
The percentage of online households connecting a dedicated OTT streaming device (Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, etc.) to their TV nearly doubled from 12% to 22% since 2013.
Adding TVs connected…
Continue Reading
