In the news: CRTC rulings

Mark Dillon of Playback writes about the surprise CRTC ruling on the CTV/CHUM merger, and what it means to the industry:

Establishing Shot: A little regulation is a good thing
“Producers, advertisers and culturecrats feared we would end up with two conventional players when the dust settled, but instead we could have two more evenly matched leaders and a strong third. Nice to see what a little regulation can do.”

In the news: Alliance Atlantis fall lineup

Jesse Kohl and Terry Poulton from Playback compile the list of new and returning shows – a few Canadian:

Alliance Atlantis channels annouce fall lineups
“The net’s big show is the much-hyped 26-part original series Home Heist, which puts Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan (How Not To Decorate) to work spreading their gospel of “decorative beautification” in Canada. The show premieres on October 2.”

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John Doyle reports from Vancouver:

Live from Vancouver, where the action is
“Intelligence comes from Haddock Entertainment, as did Da Vinci’s Inquest and Da Vinci’s City Hall. All three have been made here, set here and have dealt with issues that directly reflect the reality of life in and around Vancouver. Da Vinci’s City Hall focused to an extraordinarily detailed and compelling degree on the municipal politics and street life of a major Canadian city. This fall, I understand, there will be a Da Vinci’s City Hall TV movie for CBC. I’ll be talking to Chris Haddock in the next few days about that. I’ll also be talking to John Cassini, who stars in Intelligence as Ronnie Delmonico, the key sidekick to main character Jimmy Reardon (Ian Tracey). Cassini also stars in Robson Arms as Yuri Kukoc, the superintendent of the Robson Arms apartment building. “

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Sofi Papamarko of Chart Attack recaps Monday’s male Canadian Idol performances:

Canadian Idol Update: The Boys Of Summer
“After a melodramatic jumble of crushed egos and broken dreams, 11 talented male Canadian Idol hopefuls have risen from the ashes like phoenixes â€” or smaller, lighter ashes.”

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Vinay Menon of the Toronto Star (see last half of the article):

A Shaq attack on extra pounds
“The third season of Instant Star (CTV, 9:30 tonight) begins with an industry buzzphrase: “multi-platform content rollout.” Fun! This means fans can watch online, consume 11 supplemental webisodes and even hum along to the companion CD (Songs From Instant Star 3 will be released July 3).”