There was plenty to celebrate Thursday as Bell Media closed out a week of Toronto-based Upfronts with their annual ad orgy at the Meridian. If you tally up the English and French-language output, Bell will have 96 titles and 1037 hours of original content in 2023/24. CTV remains, after 22 straight years, the most-watched broadcast
At this time of year, Canadian broadcasters have traditionally ramped up the ballyhoo with breathless releases about all the fabulous new shows they’re importing for the coming season. The phrases most often used to achieve this are “most talked-about acquisition,” and, wait for it, “buzzworthy.” On Wednesday in Toronto at Corus Entertainment’s first post-COVID in-person
Many Canadians agree — it’s time to bring some Law & Order to Toronto. It was announced Monday that Rogers’-owned Citytv is going to do just that by launching Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent in the spring of 2024. Ten episodes of the still to be cast drama will be shot and produced in
Let’s get this out of the way “up front”: CTV won the overall TV season ratings race in Canada for the 21st year in a row. That message was hammered home again and again Thursday in Toronto at the Meridian Centre qt Bell Media’s live and in-person Upfront pep rally for advertisers. Just the day
UPDATED: Global buried the lead Wednesday. Their nearly hour-long, virtual “UsFront” (they don’t call it an UpFront) reel was half done before the proud boasts began. Eventually, however, those who fought through a long streaming delay (this happens to at least one of Canada’s major media companies every year of this virtual era) came to
Upfront Week in Canada used to be like walking the midway during the peak years of the Canadian National Exhibition: crowded and sticky. Now, as we emerge from the pandemic, things are slowly shifting back into live, in-person events — or at least evolving into a new hybrid mode of virtual and live. Take Tuesday’s
How slim were the picking at this year’s Hollywood screenings for Canadian broadcast buyers? In advance of their upfront next week in Toronto, CTV announced Thursday that just three new imported US broadcast network programs would be joining their fall 2022-2023 lineup. They are all very Red, White and Blue, with the names of States
CBC could have called Wednesday’s virtual 2022-2023 presentation, This Upfront Has 27 Minutes. Hosted by Andrew Phung from Run the Burbs and Kim’s Convenience (above), the public broadcaster’s sizzle reel was heavy on clips and light on talking heads. Phung promised “thrills and chills” and then gave way to the networks’ Executive Vice President, Barbara