From a media release:

Corus Entertainment’s YTV is set to premiere, Game On, an innovative new live-action comedy that shows what it’s like when two enthusiastic sports announcers provide running commentary on every awkward, cringe-worthy moment of 14-year-old Toby Martin’s life. The 20 x half hour series premieres Monday, May 4 at 7 p.m. ET/PT on YTV. Visit the YTV blog for a sneak peek: http://www.ytv.com/blog/check-out-game-on.

Toby (Grayson Gurnsey) is just an average teen dealing with typical growing pains like zits, a changing voice, an annoying little sister, over-eager parents, some mild social awkwardness and an unrequited crush on classmate Jessica (Alice Morel-Michaud). However, his attempts to get through the day without too many disasters are closely examined by two announcers, Geri (Samantha Bee) and Bob (Jonathan Torrens), who give a play-by-play analysis on his daily life throughout each episode. Every move Toby, along with his best friend Seth (Jamie Mayers) makes is a potential fumble, interception or goal from Bob and Geri’s perspective at the anchor desk.

Game On’s half hour premiere includes two episodes. In the first, Toby winds up at the movies with Jessica—score!—but after offering to buy her a pop, discovers he’s 80 cents short—a total fumble. In the second episode, Toby’s parents unexpectedly fill in as chaperones at his school dance and his first priority is to keep them from dancing—showing that sometimes interference can turn into an unexpected victory.

Providing an extra layer of funny colour commentary is sideline reporter Wilf (Jonathan Langdon), who creates additional online videos for viewers called “The Wilf Diaries.” The hilarious webisodes include Wilf’s interviews with the director and a celebrity dog, a behind-the-scenes tour of the wardrobe department, and some insight into Wilf’s own “stylin” secrets. The webisodes are slated to roll out on YTV.com, in the weeks following the broadcast premiere.

About AD LIB FILMS
AD LIB FILMS is a Montreal, Québec-based production company of English- and French-language content, founded by Lorraine Richard in May 2013. The company is currently in post-production on Game On, a 20 x 30-minute youth series for Corus Entertainment’s YTV, produced by Greg Dummett (Thorne, Station X & Dragon) with head writer Steve Westren (Almost Naked Animals, Station X, Dragon) and directed by Jacob Tierney (Mr D, Trotsky). Projects currently in development include The Tenderness of Wolves, a dramatic series based on Stef Penney’s award winning novel and Le Grand Verglas, a feature film based on the 1998 ice storm in Québec. In February 2015, the company produced a seven-part miniseries for Attraction Image entitled Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, after the novel of the same name, which was a UK/Canada co-production commissioned by Bell Media and BBC.

From Nellie Andreeva of Deadline:

Katee Sackhoff To Star In & Create Futuristic TV Series For Reunion Pictures
Battlestar Galactica alumna Katee Sackhoff is set to topline another drama set in the future, this one her own creation. Sackhoff has teamed with Continuum producer Reunion Pictures for the project, Rain, which she wrote and is executive producing though her Fly Free Productions.

Rain is described as an evolutionary parable that gives us a look into our possible future as a species viewed through the eyes of a soldier named Rain (Sackhoff). It explores how the long-term effects of global warming, the burning of fossil fuels and the scientific manipulation of nature’s balance rot the world and contribute to its decline. Continue reading.

From a media release:

White Pine Pictures and STV Productions are pleased to announce they are collaborating on the development of the limited series Wire Men in association with Power.

Wire Men reveals early tech wars as we’ve never seen, against the backdrop of America’s race to become the industrial and technological leader of the world. Alexander Graham Bell is at the centre of a cutthroat race to invent the telephone and entangled in a bitter rivalry with the unscrupulous Thomas Edison. They were the Zuckerberg, Jobs, and Gates of their day – brilliant young men at the top of their game.

The new drama is based in part on the book Reluctant Genius: Alexander Graham Bell and the Passion for Invention by noted historian and best-selling author Charlotte Gray. Her book Gold Diggers:Striking It Rich in the Klondike, was adapted for the Ridley Scott ratings hit Klondike; the first scripted series commissioned by Discovery.

The collaboration marks the first time these two Award-winning production houses are working together on a project.

The partnership between Executive Producers Peter Raymont (White Pine Pictures), Alan Clements and Sarah Brown (STV Productions), and Susan Waddell, CEO of Power, was initiated at MIPCOM last year and the agreement was signed at this year’s MIPTV 2015.

The series will be produced as a UK-Canada treaty co-production and Power will act as the series’ international co-producer and distributor and will be discussing the project with broadcasters at MIPTV.

From a media release:

The Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) has filed an application for leave to appeal asking the Federal Court of Appeal to set aside a CRTC decision to no longer enforce critical safeguards for independent producers in their dealings with Canada’s largest private broadcasters (Bell, Rogers, Shaw and Corus). These safeguards, known as terms of trade, were put in place in 2011 by the CRTC in the form of regulatory conditions designed to redress the imbalance of bargaining power between independent producers and broadcasters.

“We had no choice but to seek to appeal this aspect of the Let’s Talk TV decision” said Michael Hennessy, CMPA President and CEO. “Regulatory enforcement of producer safeguards is the only way to ensure producers are able to negotiate fair deals with the media giants. They are critical for the health of the independent production sector and the thousands of creators and skilled workers it employs.”

In its leave to appeal application, the CMPA argues that the CRTC failed to provide the CMPA with notice or the opportunity to make proper submissions with respect to this critically important issue for independent producers. The appeal is not related to the CRTC’s recent policies to provide more choice and affordability to Canadian TV viewers.

“We are disturbed that the CRTC has decided to no longer enforce safeguards for independent producers without any notice or asking us a single question on the subject at the Let’s Talk TV hearings,” says Hennessy. “Without the current regulatory conditions to ensure fair bargaining, and in the absence of any other Codes or safeguards, thousands of jobs and hundreds of businesses are in jeopardy. Even more troubling to us is that at the same time the enforcement for producer safeguards were withdrawn, the CRTC enhanced protections afforded to much larger industry players like independent broadcasters and cable providers such as Cogeco and TELUS.”

Notes:
Total film and television production volume in Canada in 2013/14 was $5.86B and accounted for over 125,000 full time equivalent (FTE) jobs including 49,300 direct jobs on productions. That accounts for $7.5B GDP to the economy. Canadian independent television production accounted for $2.3B in volume, generating 49,000 FTEs including 19,300 direct jobs, and $2.9B in GDP.