TORONTO – The Movie Network, Movie Central and Shaw Media have signed on as Canadian partners for the international co-production of The Heretics.
The 12 x 60 minutes historical miniseries is set in 13th century France and is based on the Cathars, a ruthlessly repressed Christian religious sect. It is scheduled to go into production in Romania and the South of France in June 2012, with writing and post production in Canada.
The Heretics will have its Canadian broadcast premiere on Astral’s The Movie Network (eastern Canada) and Corus’ Movie Central (western Canada) in 2013, followed by a second window on…
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OTTAWA – A number of Canada’s independent cable operators have balked at signing a new omnibus carriage agreement for the up-to 30 specialty channels owned by Bell Media and instead are demanding the CRTC step in and decide who’s right.
According to sources with direct knowledge of the agreement and the ongoing battle, both Cogeco Cable and the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance have been through a few rounds of official CRTC staff mediation, which hasn’t yielded much in the way of results. It now looks like the disputes are headed towards binding, final offer arbitration in front of a CRTC…
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VANCOUVER – Global News is launching a Mandarin-language newscast in Vancouver and Calgary starting next month on Chinese New Year.
The 30 minute show is set to air Monday through Friday at 7pm and 11:30pm PT on Shaw Multicultural Channel 116 in Vancouver, and at 10pm MT on Shaw Multicultural Channel 89 in Calgary, starting January 23.
Global National Mandarin's team will work closely with Global National to air original content and footage for its Mandarin-speaking audience by seeking out commentary from prominent sources in the Mandarin-speaking community to offer their expertise on the key stories of the day, the company…
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TORONTO – CBC’s Hockey Night In Canada in Punjabi is returning for its third season starting December 10.
Thanks to sponsorship support from Chevrolet Canada, two games will be available every Saturday night during the regular season, as well as one series per round during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Punjabi play-by-play voice Harnarayan Singh will once again call the action.
“We’re thrilled to bring back our Punjabi broadcasts with Harnarayan Singh for another season as a part of CBC’s Hockey Night In Canada thanks to our new presenting sponsor, Chevrolet,” said Julie Bristow, CBC’s executive director of studio and unscripted programming,…
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TORONTO – SOCAN appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada this week to represent the interests of Canadian music creators and publishers in three copyright cases related to the use of music on the Internet by corporations that include Rogers, Bell, Shaw, Telus, and Apple.
The organization said in a statement that its appearance comes in support of the decision made by the Copyright Board of Canada and confirmed by the Federal Court of Appeal to licence the use of music on-line in the form of downloads and musical previews, as well as the use of music in on-line games.
Composers,…
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CALGARY – Shaw has begun trialling its new WiFi network in select locations of Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary, months in advance of its official launch next spring.
Shaw said Tuesday that the service is now active in locations including malls, restaurants and fitness facilities, and that it will add “hundreds” of more access points in the coming months. Users may log in at a WiFi location using their shaw.ca email address and password, authenticate up to eight devices, and experience speeds similar to their home Internet service.
"Canadians' use of smart phones and tablet devices has grown exponentially over the years and more…
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LOS GATOS, CA – Netflix has locked up the Canadian rights to the critically-acclaimed British drama The Hour.
Hailed as England's answer to Mad Men, The Hour is a six-part political thriller set in 1956 against the backdrop of a BBC public affairs TV show during the Suez Crisis.
An intimate look at sex, ambition and espionage in the workplace, the series originally aired on the BBC in the United Kingdom and stars Dominic West, Romola Garai and Ben Whishaw.
www.netflix.com
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CALGARY – Canadian teen sitcom Wingin' It season 2 has been named this year’s winner of the Shaw Rocket Prize.
Part of the Shaw Rocket Fund, the Rocket Prize awards $50,000 annually to an independently-produced Canadian children's, youth, or family program and its associated digital content.
An international panel of industry judges chose the top five programs out of the entries, and a jury of Canadian children 12 and under screened the finalists before chosing the second season of Wingin It as their favourite program.
Produced by Temple Street Productions in association with Family Channel, Wingin' It follows a typical teenager trying to…
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TORONTO – Rogers Cable signed a “long-term agreement” for the continued distribution of all Shaw Media services, including popular channels History Television, HGTV Canada, Showcase, as well as on-demand rights to Global TV content.
The deal includes on-demand, online and mobile rights, through linear, VOD, broadband and mobile.
"It is extremely gratifying to renew our long-standing relationship with Rogers and secure their continued support of our leading specialty television brands. The agreement acknowledges our investment in programming, aggressive evolution to high definition offerings and leadership in the on-demand space," said Shaw Media president Paul Robertson, in the announcement. "This deal is a…
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OTTAWA – Shaw has been given the official go ahead by the CRTC to extend its local television satellite solution (LTSS) to Canadian viewers impacted by the digital television transition.
As part of its purchase of Canwest Global, Shaw earmarked a portion of its tangible benefits package to provide free local or regional TV services and the necessary satellite equipment and installation services for up to 31,500 households that were poised to lose access to local over-the-air stations as a result of August’s digital television transition. Shaw was authorized to allocate $1 million of this $15 million benefit to fund…
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