The Amazing Race Canada Auditions, a three-part spinoff of the CTV series, premiered yesterday exclusively on Bell Fibe TV channel TV1.

The 30-minute episodes – hosted by season one contestants Jet Black and Dave Schram – are made up of audition clips from Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa and are produced by Bell’s in-house production team. The main version of the show is produced by Toronto’s Insight Productions.

This is the first time a show has been crossed over from CTV to Fibe TV1, which was formerly known as Bell Local.

Fibe TV1 is dedicated solely to community-based content that falls into two categories: access and non-access. Access programming can be suggested by anyone in the community (whether it be a producer or an individual that submits an idea) and Bell will then assist with making that show. Non-access programming is still community-based, but is decided upon by Bell.

Bell is mandated to a 50-50 split between access and non-access, with The Amazing Race Canada Auditions falling into the latter category.

“The strategy was ‘how can we create a new kind of community programming service?'” Nicolas Poitras, VP of Bell Residential Services, told Playback Daily. “People have this perception of what community television is and what we’re doing with TV1 is completely different. [The show is] both community-focused, it fills our non-access mandate and it taps into something we know people have a passion for [The Amazing Race Canada].”

This is not an entirely new concept for Bell, after shows based on the Toronto Raptors (Open Gym, a reality series focusing on the basketball team) and the Toronto International Film Festival premiered on TV1 last year. This, however, is the first time Bell has used a show as high-profile as The Amazing Race Canada as the basis for a spinoff. And it’s something Poitras says Fibe subscribers will be seeing more of in the future.

“Our objective is to bring more known franchises, for lack of a better word, to TV1. As long as there is a real consumer appeal we’re very much determined to bring more of that content to our viewers and clients,” he said.

There will also be a “fairly extensive advertising program” to make both subscribers and non-subscribers aware of the new Fibe TV content. As well as announcements made during the CTV airings of the show, the local content will receive radio, online and social media support.