– Nature Nut hits syndie #s

While Great North Communications awaits news on the next season of Jake and the Kid from CanWest Global, Discovery Channel and Life Network have greenlit more episodes of two of its documentary series, Acorn: The Nature Nut and Ribbons of Steel.

Discovery is on board for 26 more episodes of Nature Nut, bringing the total to 78 and pulling the series into syndication territory. Life has commissioned 13 episodes of Ribbons of Steel, a half-hour series focusing on Canadian railways and hosted by Gordon Pinsent.

Speaking of CanWest, news related to its Australian properties eclipsed first-quarter numbers for its Canadian holdings this month. In Canada, revenue for the quarter ending Nov. 30, 1996 is up 9.9% to $101 million from $91.9 million for the same period in fiscal 1995. Combined operating profit from all CanWest’s broadcast holdings internationally rose 31.3% to $92.3 million from $70.3 million last year. The Canadian piece amounts to $43.5 million for the first quarter, an 11.4% increase over broadcast operating profit for the same period last year.

Word is CanWest’s New Producers Series is also on the chopping block, should the Alberta appeal be denied by the federal government.

– Industry summit on deck

Canadian Heritage is planning for a closed industry roundtable Feb. 9-10. At least 25 industry executives will meet in Ottawa to discuss cultural policies in the context of convergence and the increasing strength of the American’s quest for world cultural domination. New policy directions may be established.

A spokesperson for Heritage says Industry Canada is organizing a posse to attend the meeting.

– Sky switch

Milton, Ont.-based Tee-Comm Electronics, the company behind dth hopeful AlphaStar Canada and u.s. service AlphaStar Digital Television, says it will expand the channel capacity of both services with a satellite swap.

The u.s. and the proposed Canadian service are scheduled to move from at&t skynet’s Telstar 402-R satellite to Telstar 5 in July. The new satellite is set to launch in May and Tee-Comm president Al Bahnman says the company will be the first dth provider to service Canada, the u.s. and Mexico from one satellite and one digital network.

Meanwhile, Telesat Canada has signed on with Asia Broadcasting and Communications Network to operate the l-star satellites for up to two years.

Telesat’s latest proposal to buy a u.s. dbs satellite from TCI Satellite crashed and burned this month, in the wake of the government’s rejection of its fast-track plan. Telesat had a letter of intent to buy a Tempo dbs satellite from the company if its initiative found success.

– Hot Docs! ’97

The Canadian international documentary festival, Hot Docs! ’97, is expanding its service offering this year, playing matchmaker of a structured sort between documentary producers and potential buyers.

Under the umbrella The Financier’s Club, Hot Docs! execs will distribute project outlines to the buyers and the buyers’ roster to producers. Before the festival, which runs March 18-23, each will submit lists of whom they would like to break bread with, and meetings will be set up for March 22. Producers must already have a portion of the financing in place to be eligible. Deadline for application is Feb. 21.

– Que fall ’96 TV sweeps

TVA is the only Quebec French-language network to have improved its market share over last fall’s sweep period, increasing its province-wide 2+ share 5% over 1995.

Ranked second, Radio-Canada’s overall viewing share this fall dropped from 26% to 24%. Television Quatre Saisons’ share went from 12% last year to 10% this fall, while newly named and mandated Tele-Quebec’s share went from 3% to 2%.

cftm-tv, the Montreal tva flagship station, had seven of the top 10 primetime shows in the Montreal extended francophone market. Radio-Canada’s cbft-tv had three.

The top two regularly scheduled programs this fall are the r-c sitcom La Petite Vie, which pulled in more than 1.7 million in the Montreal extended market, and Piment Fort, the tva after supper-hour quiz show.

Top-rated new drama series and miniseries during the sweep, in order, are: Lobby and Le Retour, both on tva; the elaborate historical drama Marguerite Volant and Virgine, both on r-c; Bingalow Blues, a new tva teleroman; and 10-07, the tqs police miniseries series.

In the anglo market, ctv affiliate cfcf-tv maintained its commanding lead in the extended Montreal English tv market with a 30% share, the same as last fall. cbc station cbmt-tv’s share also held steady at 11%. nbc and cbs border affiliate stations combined for an 18% share of the Montreal market.

Sondages bbm’s results for the fall ’96 sweep cover the four-week period from Oct. 31 to Nov. 27, according to data from Montreal media house Paul Martel.

– Alliance targets Showcase, VOD

Looking to eventually own 100% of the specialty service, Alliance Communications has acquired a further 20% interest in Showcase Television.

Rock Demers’ Les Productions La Fete has sold its 18% interest in Showcase, leaving Alliance with approximately 75% ownership. At the same time, Alliance has purchased a 20% equity interest in La Fete Group (Productions La Fete, Distribution La Fete, Editions La Fete and Mediamax International), creating a strategic relationship between the two companies.

Alliance together with Shaw Communications has filed an application with the crtc to provide a national video-on-demand service. The up-front investment is pegged at $30 million. Hearings for vod applications are set for March 17.

– APFTQ’s 25th

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television – Quebec is organizing a tribute Jan. 29 marking the 25th anniversary of l’Association des Producteurs de Films et de Television du Quebec, the Quebec producers association.

The apftq represents more than 80 film and television production companies to governments, Crown corporations, broadcasters and industry trade unions and guilds.

The tribute takes places Jan. 29 at Hotel Le Westin Mont-Royal in Montreal.

– Greenlight feature prods

Greenlight Communications confirms it is going forward with three new theatrical pictures: Nico the Unicorn, Owd Bob and On the Edge.

Nico the Unicorn, a $7 million action/adventure film, will begin shooting in Montreal in April. American Cinema Productions is coproducing with Kingsborough Greenlight Pictures. Everest Entertainment will handle Canadian sales; Fries Schultz Group, foreign.

The $5 million Owd Bob is a family movie, based on the book by Alfred Ollivant about the friendship between a shepherd and his dog. Filming begins on the Isle of Man in April. The film will be produced by Kingsborough Greenlight and sold by Greenlight and Everest worldwide.

On the Edge, budget $4 million, is a coproduction between Kingsborough Greenlight and Bright Ideas Entertainment. Greenlight and Everest will handle worldwide sales for the feature about a southern Georgia high school football star trapped in a snowboarding town.

Vancouver-based Motion Works will produce the special effects for all three films.

– People

– Andy Howard has been named senior vp, television and features, at Sullivan Entertainment.

– A round of shufflings at CTV Network as it reformats to launch N1. Arthur Weinthal, vp programming, will retire March 5 but will continue working with ctv under a one-year contract as group vp, creative director.

Gary Maavara has been appointed group vp, programming, chief legal counsel and president of ctv’s ppv channels.

News vp Eric Morrison is taking on the position of group vp, development. Chief news editor Henry Kowalski is moving to the position of vp and gm, news.

Kathie Shearer, formerly vp sales and marketing, becomes group vp marketing and sales.

Rita Fabian has been named vp network sales. Joel Rotenberg has been promoted to vp information systems and controller.

– After almost five years as executive director, Colin Brunton is leaving The Feature Film Project and returning to independent filmmaking. Brunton’s exit comes as the first-time filmmaking initiative winds down and a proposal is being developed to redesign and renew the program. The Feature Film Project is still encouraging submissions during the revamping phase.

– Jonathan Haldane is the new executive producer at Greenlight Entertainment. Ron Proulx has been named manager of music services for Greenlight Entertainment.

– Joel Darling has been named senior executive producer for CBC Sports.

– Graham Greene will host the 1997 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards Feb. 13 on cbc.