Everything about Industry News, eh?

Link: Kew Media snaps up six companies

From Nico Franks and Jonathan Webdale of C21Media:

Link: Kew Media snaps up six companies
KMG has secured a private placement of US$20m from current shareholders and new investors ahead of its IPO, with the price of the acquisitions pegged at US$104.1m. The business expects to bring in revenue of US$218.3m in the 2017 fiscal year.

KMG is set to take full ownership of London- and LA-based CMC and in Architect Films, Bristow Global Media, Media Headquarters Film & Television and Our House Media – all of which are based in Toronto – plus Alex Gibney’s Frantic Films in Winnipeg. Continue reading. 

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CBC’s six-part docu-series True North Calling debuts Feb. 17

From a media release:

CBC premieres six-part docu-series TRUE NORTH CALLING on Friday, February 17 at 8:30 p.m. (9 NT). Produced by Proper Television in association with CBC, the series follows the lives of six resourceful Canadians living across the far North as they share what it takes to survive and thrive in Canada’s toughest terrain.

From The Northwest Territories to the Yukon and Nunavut, TRUE NORTH CALLING follows a group of hardy and determined Canadians who navigate unforgiving terrain, unpredictable weather and unexpected challenges to earn a living and make a life for themselves in the far North.

In Iqaluit, Franco Buscemi’s goal is to run for public office and gain the power he needs to lead his community into the 21st century – while still holding down a day job and hunting daily to provide for his family and community. Whitehorse farmers Kate Mechan and Bart Bounds dream to create a sustainable farm and achieve food security in the North – while raising their two small children off the grid in a tiny yurt. As a struggling tour operator in one of the most remote regions of the North, Kylik Kisoun Taylor has to marry old world traditions with modern day business savvy. This year he has a new idea – a big gamble – that, if it pays off, could change everything. Shawn Buckley, a fourth-generation fisherman in Yellowknife, battles the raw elements to fish through two distinctly different seasons and meet the demand for wild, fresh fish while balancing life as a single parent. And Iqaluit based TV producer Stacey Aglok MacDonaldfights to preserve her culture by making a wild comedy series entirely in the language of Inutituk. Each of these rugged Northerners has the same goals most of us have – to parent

Each of these rugged Northerners has the same goals most of us have – to parent well, and to make ends meet – but they often have to do it in unrelenting sub-zero temperatures.  Yet, as hard as it can be to succeed in the North, they find life there deeply rewarding and wouldn’t want to live any other way. TRUE NORTH CALLING is a journey into the unexpected and an intimate look at what it really takes to not only survive – but thrive – in Canada’s farthest reaching regions.

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CBC/Radio-Canada shares its Accountability Plan

From a media release:

CBC/Radio-Canada is pleased to share with Canadians its Accountability Plan for the Government’s reinvestment in the public broadcaster.

In Budget 2016, the government proposed to invest an additional $75M in CBC/Radio-Canada for 2016-2017, rising to $150M in the following years, and asked the Minister of Canadian Heritage to work with the public broadcaster to develop an accountability plan. As stated in the Budget, “Reversing past cuts will enable the CBC/Radio-Canada to invest in its Strategy 2020: A space for us allpriorities, leading to the creation of Canadian content which will be more digital, local and ambitious in scope.”

Already this year we are creating additional Indigenous content; investing in high profile events that bring Canadians together like Canada’s 150th anniversary; creating new evening content on ICI Radio-Canada Première; creating a new CBC digital service in London, Ontario; hiring new digital creators, and; expanding our international coverage with a new bureau in Istanbul, Turkey.

Today’s Accountability Plan also includes new performance indicators so that Canadians can measure what the reinvestment in public broadcasting is able to do. We will continue to report on what we have been able to accomplish at the end of the year in our Annual Report and Corporate Plan.

You can read the Accountability Plan here:

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Link: Innovative comedy Nirvanna the Band the Show is ambitious in its amateurism

From Bill Harris of Postmedia Network:

Link: Innovative comedy Nirvanna the Band the Show is ambitious in its amateurism
There are eight episodes of the new TV series Nirvanna The Band The Show. I have seen four of them.

So how does one describe a project that spells Nirvanna with an extra “N”?

Hmmm … let’s see … you know, it’s on days like this that my ability to sum up TV shows in a few simple words really is pushed to the test. Continue reading.

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Link: Nirvanna the Band’s wild Toronto antics are supremely funny

From Jake Howell of the Toronto Star:

Link: Nirvanna the Band’s wild Toronto antics are supremely funny
Of all the legendary concert venues in Toronto, Nirvanna the Band frontmen Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol are interested in playing a show at only one: the Rivoli, a Queen St. W. club known these days for its standup comedy scene and cavernous pool hall.

In fact, playing a show at the Rivoli is entirely the premise of Nirvanna the Band the Show, Johnson and McCarrol’s hilarious new “semi-scripted” television series that’s to debut weekly on Viceland on Feb. 2 and on City in March. Continue reading.

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