TV, eh? | What's up in Canadian television | Page 1198
TV,eh? What's up in Canadian television
Industry News

Link: Houdini & Doyle co-pro picked up by Shaw Media

1 Comment

From Nellie Andreeva of Deadline:

Houdini & Doyle co-pro picked up by Shaw Media
A supernatural crime drama inspired by the unlikely real-life friendship between Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and illusionist Harry Houdini is headed to the small screen in the U.S., UK and Canada. I’ve learned that Sony Pictures TV has sold the 10-episode series to Fox, the UK’s ITV and Canada’s Shaw Media. Titled Houdini And Doyle, the drama — which will go straight to series — hails from The Librarianfranchise creator David Titcher, House creator David Shore and House writer-producer David Hoselton. Canada’s Shaftesbury and the UK’s Big Talk co-produce, with Sony TV, where Shore is under an overall deal, distributing worldwide. Fox had no comment. Continue reading.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Industry News

Let’s Talk TV: CRTC sets out roadmap to maximize choice and affordability for Canadian TV viewers

1 Comment

From a media release:

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today set out a roadmap that, in a World of Choice, will maximize choice and affordability for Canadians television viewers. By the end of 2016, viewers will be able to supplement an affordable entry-level service with the additional channels they want, either on a pick-and-pay basis or in small, reasonably priced bundles of channels.

By March 2016, Canadians will be able to subscribe to an entry-level television service that costs no more than $25 per month. This service will prioritize local and regional news and information programs given that many Canadians spoke of their importance during Let’s Talk TV. News and information programs enable Canadian citizens to better participate in Canada’s democratic, economic, cultural and social life. Canadian consumers also expressed frustration that the basic packages offered by cable and satellite companies had become too large and costly. Canadians will now have alternatives.

Canadians, who choose to do so, will be able to supplement the entry-level television service by buying individual channels that will be available either on a pick-and-pay basis or through small, reasonably priced packages. If they so choose, they will have the option of selecting theme-based packages—such as sports, lifestyle or comedy—offered by their service providers.

By December 2016, Canadians will be able to subscribe to channels on a pick-and-pay basis, as well as in small packages. In addition, Canadians will have the choice of keeping their current television services without making any changes, if these continue to meet their needs and budgets.

The changes announced today build on ideas that the CRTC originally proposed in a working document published in August 2014 to maximize choice and affordability in the television services market.

During the Let’s Talk TV conversation, Canadians were clear that they wanted choice in the marketplace. Today’s decision gives them the ultimate choice. It supports those who want to subscribe to fewer channels, more channels, or who like the bundles of channels they already have. When coupled with other changes introduced by the CRTC, such as 30-day cancellation policies, it further empowers consumers to shop around and negotiate the deals that are best for them.

A dynamic marketplace creates incentives for cable and satellite companies to offer reasonably priced television services that meet the diverse needs and interests of Canadians, and for broadcasters to produce high-quality, original content that is compelling and attractive to audiences.

Multicultural communities

Today’s decision serves Canada’s diverse communities. It allows consumers to buy the ethnic and third-language television channels they want on either a pick-and-pay basis or in small bundles of channels. It also ensures that cable and satellite companies offer one Canadian third-language or ethnic channel for every non-Canadian third-language or ethnic channel they offer.

Members of Canada’s multicultural communities will have the freedom to choose the television services they want and will have greater and more affordable access to Canadian ethnic and third-language programming, as well as to non-Canadian programming.

Wholesale market

To support the changes announced today—and to ensure that viewers continue to discover, and enjoy access to, a diversity of programming—the CRTC introduced a code of conduct for broadcasters and television service providers. The code clarifies the terms and conditions under which wholesale agreements between the two are struck. For example, it ensures that cable and satellite companies offer independently-owned channels in at least one pre-assembled package and that channels cannot be unduly withdrawn from subscribers as a result of a commercial dispute at the wholesale level.

The content of the code will be finalized by September 2015 following an expedited public process.

About Let’s Talk TV

In 2013, the CRTC launched Let’s Talk TV: A Conversation with Canadians on the future of their television system, and how it can adapt to evolving technologies and viewing habits. The CRTC received more than 13,000 comments from Canadians during the conversation’s various phases.

Today’s announcement is the fourth in a series of decisions that sets out a new, forward-looking framework for Canada’s television system, and which gives Canadians greater control over their television viewing experiences. The CRTC previously announced decisions relating to content made by Canadians, cancellation policies, local television and simultaneous substitution.

Quick Facts

  • The CRTC has set out a roadmap to maximize choice and affordability for Canadians television viewers.
  • By March 2016, Canadians will be able to subscribe to an entry-level television service that cost no more than $25 as an alternative to the basic services currently being offered by cable and satellite companies.
  • The entry-level television service will include:
    • all local and regional television stations
    • public interest channels such as the Cable Public Affairs Channel and Aboriginal Peoples Television Network
    • education channels,
    • and, if offered, community channels and the services operated by provincial legislatures.
  • Canadians will be able to supplement their entry-level service by subscribing to pay and specialty channels on a pick-and-pay basis or in small packages.
  • By December 2016, viewers will be able to subscribe to channels on a pick-and-pay basis as well as in small packages.
  • Cable and satellite companies can continue to offer their existing packages of channels in order to provide alternative options to television viewers.
  • By expanding the current obligation to distribute one French-language channel for every 10 English channels to satellite companies, Canadians living in official-language minority communities will have access to services that meet their needs.
  • Canadians living in official-language minority communities will also have access to educational programs in their language, including programs for children and youth.
  • Canada’s multicultural communities will have greater access to Canadian ethnic and third-language channels.
  • A code will clarify the wholesale relationship between television service providers and broadcasters, to the benefit of consumers.
Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Industry News

Link: The war for the business television viewer

From Tony Wong of The Toronto Star:

The war for the business television viewer
Bloomberg Television Canada will launch sometime in the summer of 2015 and it promises to create waves in a competitive area where the stakes are high for an elite viewership that can move markets.

It is also a rare sign of expansion in a moribund industry: executives say they hope to hire up to 50 more journalists and producers for the channel when it is up and running. Continue reading.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Uncategorized

Tonight: The Stanley Dynamic, The Nature of Things, Doc Zone, Storage Wars, The Liquidator

The Stanley Dynamic, YTV – premiere
The Stanley Dynamic, a hilarious multi-cam sitcom centres around The Stanleys, a normal family with one big twist—one of their twin sons is animated. The 14-year-old twins, Larry and his cartoon twin brother Luke, navigate their first year of high school and try to fit in. Luke prefers to stay under the radar, but his ability to stretch his body like a wad of gum keeps him in the spotlight, while Larry’s love of attention constantly backfires and results in him getting into a lot of trouble. Luckily, the twins have the support of their little sister, their mom and their cartoonist dad who chronicles the family’s adventures in his online comic strip. Together the Stanleys juggle home life, school and work in a way that stretches their relationship with each other and the world in all kinds of unexpected ways.

The Nature of Things, CBC – “SongbirdSOS”
Birdsong that has graced the Earth for millions of years – and for all of human history – could soon be stilled due to a human-made perfect-storm. SongbirdSOS is the artfully-shot story of the mass depletion of songbirds in the Americas, an alarming thinning of populations that has seen declines of many species since the 1960s. According to international birding expert Dr. Bridget Stutchbury, who is featured in the documentary, we may have lost almost half the songbirds that filled the skies fifty years ago. SongbirdSOS is a wide-ranging zoological whodunit that takes the viewer through a stunning variety of human-made perils that have afflicted species from warblers to orioles to grosbeaks to thrushes. On a hopeful note, it also shines a light on some ingenious approaches to the threat, and the on-the-ground heroes making them happen.

Doc Zone, CBC – “Volunteers Unleashed”
Once the domain of international NGO’s, like CUSO or Peace Corps, overseas volunteering has privatized and gone mainstream, attracting millions of young travellers. Volunteers Unleashed follows volunteers to South America, Southeast Asia and Africa, showing how “voluntourism” has become the fastest growing and the most controversial travel sector. Leading this story is 22-year-old Pippa Biddle, who after a series of voluntourism experiences over six years, posted a critical blog. It went viral, with over 15 million hits, and instantly launched her as the poster child against privileged young white women volunteering overseas. Volunteers Unleashed shows dramatically that going overseas with good intentions, does not guarantee good will be done.

Storage Wars Canada, OLN – “Kennys vs Kennys”
Paul and Bogart swore they would never bring Bogart’s sisters to another auction, which is exactly why Roy can’t wait to bring them to an auction in Cambridge. Rick and Cindy try to get lucky with some super models, while Ursula hopes magician Zack Mirza (OLN Original Series Illusions of Grandeur) can make money appear out of thin air.

The Liquidator, OLN – “Hustle Apostle”
When he gets a call from a priest with a furniture problem, will Jeff’s need for redemption leave him vulnerable to saying yes when he should be saying no? And when a couple professional dealmakers come in to try and pawn off some outdated suits on Jeff, he shows them who the king of the hustlers really is.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Vikings

Interview: Director Ken Girotti steers Vikings ship

1 Comment

Ken Girotti has directed some of the most critically acclaimed—and entertaining—television shows in recent years. In the U.S., he’s worked on Denis Leary’s firefighter drama Rescue Me, Dick Wolf’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent and spy drama Covert Affairs.

In Canada, the homegrown man behind the lens has worked on Combat Hospital, Flashpoint, the Stargate franchise, ReGenesis, Copper, Bomb Girls, Orphan Black and Saving Hope.

Girotti’s work can currently be seen on History’s sweeping Vikings, tracking the ongoing adventures of Ragnar Lothbrok and his followers as they explore the ancient world, and includes an attack on Paris later this season. We spoke the veteran director about the challenges and rewards of working on a series like Vikings, which involves filming longboats on rough seas and choreographing intense battle scenes for the small screen.

Vikings is a really cinematic series that deserves to be on a feature film screen.
Ken Girotti: I have to agree with you. The scope and scale of the show looks pretty good up there.

Are you the type of director who can just watch you work afterwards and enjoy it, or are you picking things apart?
Oh no, I play director. It never stops with me. It’s either, ‘Wow, that worked out really well,’ or ‘Oh my god, how could they have done that?’ or a mixture of those things. That’s part of the deal when you’re in television.

vikings

When you get a script from Vikings creator Michael Hirst, what is the first thing that you do? Walk me through the process.
The first thing I do is sit back and have a good read and see how it all washes over me. Almost always with any script—whether it’s from Michael Hirst or anyone—you’ll have questions about what exactly some things mean. And sometimes you never ask those questions because you want them to remain questions. Then I take a second read and try to fine-tune the script and put it through a filter. Are things clear? I’m starting to circle a place where I see the story unfold in my mind in pictures and words. That’s when the real job of directing begins because I start to interpret what Michael has written for me and try to embellish it and move it forward.

Directing is such a collaborative process. You have your vision and you’re getting into someone else’s sandbox. Is that sometimes a challenge?
On something like Vikings it’s pretty easy because I share a sensibility with Michael. I feel like we have a commonality in the way that we approach life and truth, beauty and art and all of those things. I have a deep respect for his writing; he writes in such an evocative way that speaks to me personally. There are some things that I become completely obsessed with. One little line.

One of the things that I never really observed about Vikings before is the exploration into religion.
I think it’s very subversive. It’s never on the surface. There’s slashing with axes and stuff, but everything that they do has an effect on the next thing that they do. And that’s very existential, I think.

Filming those longboats must be a challenge.
They are the most difficult things to manage ever. They’re difficult and annoying and beautiful all at once. You think about moving a camera while moving an actor on dry land and camera goes this way and the actor goes that way in a nice little coordination of movement. Then you add an element where you can’t predict where anything is going to go and that’s water. It creates organizational anarchy. The marine guys are amazing and my first AD, Raymond Kirk, is truly an amazing first AD. They had to build docks for these boats. They hoist them in with cranes. It’s immense and the logistical challenges with regard to the boats is just huge.

The battle scenes are intricate work too. I’m thinking of that battle in Episode 1 of this season.
We were on that site for six days, I think. It was a pretty big sequence. What we tried to show there was sort of a storming the beaches at D-Day. There was something similar earlier in the series where Jarl Borg rolls up on Kattegat. This was quite a bit bigger and we tried to stay on the beach for as long as we could and we wanted to show how hard it was to get your feet out of the water as a Viking and fight against those Mercians.

I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be a Mercian and see these big, ugly, hairy guys with axes on boats rowing towards you. It must have been horrible.

Vikings airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on History.

(Image credit: G. Pimentel)

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail