* Discovery Channel and Equinox magazine are joining forces. Equinox will offer complete listings and highlights of Discovery’s programming. In turn, Discovery viewers will be encouraged to subscribe to the magazine. Both companies will be exploring opportunities for joint editorial ventures, packaged promotions for advertisers and sponsors, and new product offerings.

* Publicly-traded Covitec Group has raised $500,000 in a private placement with Society d’investissements Capimont, a limited partnership made up of public pension funds, a Caisse de Depot subsidiary, and Banque Nationale.

The placement takes the form of a non-guaranteed debenture due June 20, 2001 at an annual interest rate of 8%. The bondholder has the right to convert the debenture and premium into 1.1 million common shares of the production and production service company.

Claude Gagnon, Covitec president and ceo, says some of the funds will be used for the newly built Studio LaSalle, a joint venture with Moliflex/ White.

Covitec reports revenues rose 34% over last year to $2.3 million for the six-month period ending Feb. 28.

* The Export Development Corporation’s insurance policy, revised to be film industry-specific, was unveiled to u.s. banks and distributors in l.a. late last month. The new policy, spearheaded by Daniel D’Or of Toronto-based Producers Network, replaces one that was too vague and generic, says D’Or, who believes a new film-specific policy is needed to offer security to potential banking investors.

To encourage more Canadian banks to get into the film game, D’Or plans to unveil the details of the new policy, as well as hold an information seminar involving American banking consultants, in Toronto this month.

* Cineplex Odeon has completed the sale of 28 theaters in Florida and Georgia to Carmike Cinemas. Consisting of 64 screens in Florida and 81 in Georgia, the total consideration was approximately us$22 million. Proceeds will be directed towards the building of new theaters in the u.s. and Canada and to the reduction of bank debt.

* Rockville, md-based Orion Atlantic, L.P. has signed a long-term contract with Viacom for transponder capacity on the Orion 1 satellite.

Orion Atlantic, a private international satellite partnership which includes com dev, Canada, will provide full-time contribution feeds for international programming including MTV Europe and VH1, two of Viacom’s music channels.

The uplink for VH1 is already operational. The signal, which originates in Hamburg and terminates in London, is currently using an analog transmission while a permanent digital uplink is being built at the Hamburg site.

MTV Europe will be available later in the summer from a transatlantic link from Viacom’s New York-based operations center.

* Devine Entertainment Corporation has moved to The Berkeley Castle, 2 Berkeley St., Suite 504, Toronto, Ont., M5A 2W3. Tel: (416) 364-2282; fax: (416) 364-1440.

* As a result of efforts by personal friends and individuals from the Quebec production industry, Le Fonds Jean-Francois Bourassa has been established to financially assist a student studying cinema at Concordia University in Montreal.

Bourassa, 35, a member of the stcvq, and was fatally injured in May while shooting a feature film in Montreal. A former student at Concordia, he twice won the best dop prize.

Contributions to the new fund are invited. Cheques should be made out to Concordia University, attention: David Brown, Office of University Advancement, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Ouest, Montreal, Que. H3G 1M8, Room BC-314. Tel. (514) 848-4859.

* Famous Players president Joe Peixoto says the exhibitor has expansion plans for the Quebec market. The latest opening, in the last week of June, is Famous Players 8, a new multiplex theater in the Montreal bedroom community of Greenfield Park.

The new complex has 1,714 seats and is equipped with Digital Sound.