From The Canadian Press:
CBC-TV plans to adapt Canadian author Ian Hamilton’s Ava Lee crime thriller series.
The female protagonist is a fearless Chinese-Canadian forensic accountant who lives in Toronto and is gay. Continue reading.
From a media release:
With Canada lagging globally when it comes to meeting guidelines for kids’ overall physical activity and limiting sedentary behavior, Kids’ CBC aims to inspire healthy change in the way Canadian children and their families move through their daily lives with The Moblees (30 x 11-minutes), a new live-action interactive musical adventure series for kids aged 3 – 5 years. Integrating a holistic approach to healthy active living, including non-sedentary behaviors, physical activity and nutrition,
The Moblees airs on CBC Monday to Friday at 8 a.m. (8:30 NT) beginning on December 22.
“Using a television program as a strategy to reduce the sedentary behaviour of young children seems paradoxical,” confesses Professor Mark Tremblay, director of the healthy active living and obesity research group at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, “however, The Moblees is designed to condition and guide young children and their families to recalibrate their lifestyle to one where fun, creative, lifestyle-embedded movements are normal, spontaneous, frequent, desired and rewarded.”
Featuring fun moves, memorable music and catchy lyrics, The Moblees turns home viewers into home do-ers by getting them off the floor and into the action through direct-to-camera address and playful participation. The series stars five loveable characters who – along with do-ers at home – overcome obstacles through teamwork and movement: feisty Bailey Butterfly (Shannon Hamilton); her spontaneous younger brother, Carlin Caterpillar (Scott Farley); brainy perfectionist Gisbert Grasshopper (Chris George); tail-waggity optimist Dasha Dog (Michelle Bouey); and super smooth Sylvio Snake (Matt Nethersole). Kids from around the world also share their own Moblee moves in the series.
Each episode features a movement-centric, song-driven adventure that culminates in the awarding of a Moblee Medal, rewarding preschoolers’ newfound expertise in doing ordinary things in extraordinary ways with movement. Boasting an infectious blend of original world music, The Moblees’ imaginative journeys provide transformative experiences where children and their families are encouraged to live a healthy, active lifestyle.
The series’ curriculum is advised by a team of esteemed experts including Kids’ CBC Developmental Psychologist Dr. Lynn Oldershaw; Dr. Mark Tremblay, Chief Advisor for non-sedentary behaviors and physical activity, Director of Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research (HALO) at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa; Dr. James Mandigo, Professor and Interim Dean of the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences at Brock University and co-founder of Brock’s Centre for Healthy Development; and Mary Savoye-DeSanti, RD, CD-N, CDE, a registered dietitian, certified diabetes educator and Associate Director of Pediatric Obesity at Yale University, School of Medicine.
The Moblees originated and continues as a live family show that is performed in Canada, the United States and around the world. Recent engagements include the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver and the U.S. White House Easter Egg Roll.
From a media release:
DHX Media Ltd. (“DHX” or the “Company”) (TSX: DHX.A, DHX.B), a key player internationally in the creation of content for families and children, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Nerd Corps Entertainment Inc. and its subsidiaries (“Nerd Corps”). The purchase price will be up to $57 million, inclusive of excess cash in Nerd Corps at closing, to be determined as a post-closing adjustment. The price is payable as to up to $32.7 million from cash and the remainder through the issuance of 2,963,748 DHX shares. DHX expects the transaction to be accretive to net earnings per share for fiscal 2015. Nerd Corps recorded unaudited fiscal 2013 revenues of approximately $20.0 million, and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $10.6 million. Completion of the transaction is subject to a number of conditions including the receipt of bank and Toronto Stock Exchange consent, and is anticipated to close by December 24, 2014.
The acquisition increases DHX’s operating leverage, adding Nerd Corps’ animation studio in Vancouver, BC, which features five lines of production, as well as Nerd Corps’ interactive apps, gaming expertise, and licensing opportunities with Nerd Corps’ brands. The transaction brings more than 200 half hours of proprietary children’s content to DHX’s library, including the hit comedy adventure series, Slugterra, which has been broadcast in more than 150 countries and is one of the most popular titles on Disney XD in both Canada and the US.
Nerd Corps co-founder Asaph “Ace” Fipke will be joining the DHX Content team in the role of Chief Content Officer, Kids & Family, reporting to DHX President and Chief Operating Officer, Steven DeNure; and Nerd Corps President, Ken Faier, will come on board at DHX Content as Senior VP and General Manager, Kids & Family.
From Christine Dobby:
With the launch of a new video-on-demand service dubbed Cravetv, Bell Media hopes to take on Internet streaming giants while still keeping one foot firmly planted on the side of its traditional television business.
The media division of BCE Inc. will host an event in Toronto on Wednesday to unveil the features of the new service that will launch by the end of the year and compete with subscription-based offerings from U.S.-based Netflix Inc. and homegrown rival Shomi, a joint venture between Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. Continue reading.
From a media release:
CBCbooks.ca is thrilled to announce that Canada Reads 2014‘s winning defender, Wab Kinew, will host Canada Reads 2015. Kinew becomes the fourth host of CBC’s battle of the books, now entering its 14th year.
Earlier this year, Kinew successfully defended Joseph Boyden’s The Orenda as, “the one novel to change the nation.”  He is the interim Associate Vice-President for Indigenous Relations at The University of Winnipeg and a correspondent with Al Jazeera America. His hip-hop music and journalism projects have won numerous awards, including an Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards for Best Rap/Hip-Hop CD, an Adrienne Clarkson RTNDA Award (from the Association of Electronic Journalists) and a Gabriel Award.
This year’s theme is “one book to break barriers.” Panelists will debate books that change perspectives, challenge stereotypes and illuminate issues. Canada Reads will consider both fiction and nonfiction books. Readers can submit their suggestions at CBCbooks.ca until Sunday, November 30.
The Canada Reads panelists and their chosen books will be announced on January 20, 2015.
The Canada Reads debates will take place in front of live audiences over four days from March 16-19, 2015, and will be broadcast on radio, TV and online at CBCbooks.ca.  Each day of the competition, one book will be eliminated by the panelists, until the winner is chosen as the must-read book for Canadians in 2015.
Every year, the five shortlisted Canada Reads books see a significant rise in sales, and past winners have become national bestsellers. Past successes include The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis, which began as a self-published book and won Canada Reads in 2011; and The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, the 2009 winner, which will be broadcast as a mini-series on CBC-TV beginning January 7, 2015.
