TV, Eh? Industry Roundup – Beywheelz, CRTC, eOne, NSI Canada

Beywheelz debuts in North America

Beywheelz, a spinoff of the Beyblade series, is formally announced by Nelvana. Beywheelz is one of Nelvana’s MIPTV offerings, which include Trucktown, two seasons of Detentionaire, Franklin and Friends‘ second season, and Mr. Young‘s second season.

According to I Miss Bionix, Beyblade: Metal Fury is an English-language adaptation of d-rights’/Nelvana’s Metal Fight Beyblade 4D, which saw its Japanese episode length halved in 2011, after 26 episodes. This was to accommodate Cross Fight B-Daman, leaving Nelvana with 39 half-hour episodes of Beyblade: Metal Fury. Beywheelz combines with Beyblade: Metal Fury, to make a 52-episode order.

In 2002, Nelvana gained wide-ranging North and South American, Oceanian, as well as most European, rights to Beyblade. The Beyblade toy was successfully reintroduced in North America by Nelvana, in 2009.

Beywheelz, by the way, are small “battling” tires. I wish I could sell that concept better, but then, Beyblades are small “battling” tops.

CRTC news

CRTC launches the Canadian Broadcasting Participation Fund. The CBPF will subsidize public-interest and consumer groups’ costs of participation, when it comes to CRTC broadcasting proceedings. The CBPF will also support research, analysis and advocacy relating to current CRTC broadcasting proceedings.

When BCE Inc. purchased CTVglobemedia in 2011, the CBPF’s creation was a condition of approval. According to the CRTC, the Canadian Broadcasting Participation Fund must become operational within sixty days of the March 27, 2012 announcement.


Bell Aliant Regional Communications wants to renew the regional broadcasting licence for its terrestrial broadcasting distribution undertakings. The areas where Bell Aliant wants to renew its BDUs are:

  • New Brunswick: Fredericton and surrounding areas; Moncton; Saint John
  • Newfoundland and Labrador: St John’s; Paradise; Mount Pearl
  • Nova Scotia: Halifax; Dartmouth; Bedford; Sackville

NSI Canada news

Online courtroom drama Verdict debuts on the Internet April 4, 2012.

NSI Totally Television 2011/12, Phase Two formally begins, at the end of March 2012. Participants are Andrew DeAngelis, Mark Montefiore, Shane Belcourt and Duane Murray.

Shaw Media invests $20,000 in the NSI Online Film Festival. Shaw Media also introduces the Shaw Fearless Female Director Award, a quarterly prize worth $2,500.

Entertainment One news

Entertainment One possesses worldwide rights to William Shatner’s The Movie Network/Movie Central documentary, The Captains. As one might discern from the title, The Captains has Shatner interview other Star Trek “captains,” including Sir Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula, and Chris Pine.

The Captains is mostly about Shatner, d/b/a the original James Tiberius Kirk. Shatner is his own cottage industry at this point, so that’s expected.


Entertainment One and Steven Bochco team up for Evolution. In the proposed series, a young boy, and/or the descendents of mankind, open a “box of human knowledge” three million years in the future.

Bochco is synonymous with cop and lawyer dramas, including Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, NYPD Blue, and Murder One. Bochco also mounted some notorious flops, including Capitol Critters, Cop Rock, and one-episode-wonder Public Morals. Science fiction isn’t new to Bochco, but it’s not a genre he’s known for.

Evolution will be shopped at MIPTV 2012, which takes place from April 1-4, 2012, in Cannes, France.

Odds and sods

The Toronto film industry brought in $1.13 billion to the local economy in 2011, according to the City of Toronto. This is the highest level of revenue for the Toronto film industry since 2002, and the first time the Toronto film industry has cleared the $1 billion threshold in nine years.


The Toronto Star launched The Network on Friday, March 23, 2012.

On a related note, The Network recently interviewed Robert Rabinovitch, CBC’s president/CEO from 1999-2007. Rabinovitch thinks CBC News jumped the shark in recent years.


Netflix will distribute Franny’s Feet, The Mighty Jungle and Bo On the GO! on its Internet platform.


Saskatchewan’s Film Employment Tax Credit extends its deadline for new applications. The deadline, previously March 31, 2012, is now June 30, 2012. FETC is still on the chopping block, though.


DGC Ontario elects four new board members.


TVOKids and Sinking Ship Entertainment launch Giver, a series about civic engagement and volunteerism. The show debuts April 17, 2012, at 6:30 PM ET. The 13-episode series airs every Tuesday at 6:30 PM ET, with a Sunday repeat at 3:00 PM ET.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail