– Citytv invited into Manitoba

On the heels of Northern Cable Holdings’ bid to add Citytv to a discretionary tier in Elliot Lake, Espanola, Kapuskasing, New Liskeard and Sturgeon Falls, Ont., Citytv is being invited farther West.

Westman Media Co-operative in Manitoba has filed an application with the crtc to add City to a discretionary tier of the distribution undertaking serving Brandon. Deadline for intervention is July 2.

In other new cable pitches, Shaw Communications is asking to add pbs to a discretionary tier in more than 25 Ontario communities including parts of Metro Toronto, Scarborough and Pickering.

-National net hearings postponed

At the request of CanWest Global Communications and the cbc, both of whom have requested more time to prepare, crtc hearings into a potential third national network have been postponed until November 3.

The deadline for submissions of written comments is August 22; second stage reply deadline is set for September 26.

-Toronto filmfest spotlighting Balkan cinema

The National Spotlight program at this years’ Toronto International Film Festival will focus on films from the Balkans. The showcase will feature films from the war-torn former Yugoslavia but also include films from Romania, Bulgaria and Albania.

The slate features a number of award-winning films, including Emir Kusturica’s Underground (the Palme D’Or winner at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival) and Romanian Lucian Pintilie’s An Unforgettable Summer.

The spotlight hopes to demonstrate that despite the turmoil, Balkan filmmakers have continued to produce ‘exhilarating work characterized by humanity and courage.’

-Ellis, Chamberland awarded Order of Ontario

The chairman of Ellis Enterprises and president of KEG Productions, Ralph C. Ellis has been awarded the Order of Ontario for his contributions to the film and television industry, hundreds of films and television specials about Canada’s wildlife. Also invested was Francois Chamberland who produced, directed and hosted public affairs shows, series and documentaries for Radio-Canada, TVOntario and the National Film Board during his 42-year career in broadcasting.

-Newsworld kicks comedy can – again

Seems the battle over This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Air Farce will resurface. The cbc has applied to the crtc to amend its condition of licence by adding sketch comedy (category 7F) to Newsworld’s programming options. The programs will be Canadian and limited to a maximum of three hours on air per week

-CTV picks up Police Academy

Protocol Entertainment has announced that ctv has signed on as the Canadian broadcaster for their new show Police Academy: The Series. The series is a joint venture between Protocol’s Paul Bronfman and Steve Levitan; Paul Maslansky, the producer and creator of the original Police Academy movies and Gary Goodman and Barry Rosen of Goodman Rosen Productions.

-PBS to broadcast Wimzie’s House

PBS and Montreal’s Cinar Films have reached an agreement that will see the American pubcaster broadcast Wimzie’s House this fall. The series is currently the top-rated kids show in Canada, and will air weekly on PBS beginning October 12.

-Cinram deal

Toronto-based Cinram International has reached an agreement with PolyGram Filmed Entertainment to purchase the shares of PolyGram Manufacturing and Distribution Centres B.V. The company owns and operates a music cassettes and VHS cassettes production facility in the Netherlands.

Cinram will supply PolyGram with its cassettes and VHS hardware through its North American and European facilities as well as the Netherlands addition.

Cinram is also set to buy Sony’s u.k. videocassette duplication operations. Cinram u.k. will supply the vhs needs of Sony Music Entertainment u.k. and Columbia Tri-Star Home Video in the u.k.

-Much scores gold at BDA

MuchMusic creative services came on strong with two gold and two bronze awards at the annual BDA Festival and Conference held in Chicago last week.

Much took gold in the live-action promotion category for its Canada Concert listings promo, and in the local publication advertising category.

Meanwhile CHEK 6/Artray Film & Video of Vancouver also did well in Chicago. The station picked up two promax gold awards for their image campaign ‘Turn on the Tube.’ CHEK 6 won three silver awards for its ‘Grizzlies Basketball’ campaign and for their logo design on their show ‘The Atom,’ and the design package for their CHEK 6 Television’s 40th anniversary.

-Cinevideo Plus shoots in The United Arab Emirates

The Sands Of Eden, a romantic desert adventure MOW, from Cinevideo Plus producer Justine Heroux in co-production with Carrere Television and Delux Productions started principal photography May 24 in Abu Dhabi. Lensing will be completed in Luxembourg at the beginning of July.

Sands of Eden is the first in a series of four penned by Denis Heroux and Robert Geoffrion. Canadian Marc Voizard (Marked Man, Hawk’s Vengeance) is directing a cast that includes Randy Quaid, Christine Brendel and Rosemarie La Vaullee.

In Canada, Super Ecran will air The Sands Of Eden in 1998, while in France the movie be run on Canal+, FR2/FR3. CLT/UFA will be handling worldwide sales and English broadcast territories are still available in Canada.

-Indie feature in Van.

Zacharia, a Windowshot productions feature comedy, begins principal photography July 2 for a four-week shoot in the Vancouver area.

Actor Colin Cunningham (Dead Fire, Captains Courageous) is serving as writer, producer and star. Damon Vignale is also producing and Madison Graie is coproducer. Micheal Rohl is at the directing helm for Zacharia, which expects to have post-production completed by November, with a hoped for premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in early 1998.

-East Side Story born again

The award winning community television series, East Side Story which ran for 17 years on Vancouver’s Rogers Cable, is returning to the airwaves after a brief hiatus. The show will be produced by the newly formed Community Television Co-operative (ICTV)

Following last November’s announced closure of the Vancouver East Neighborhood Television office by Rogers Cablesystems, volunteers came up with an eleventh hour proposal to keep the storefront office open.

After weeks of negotiations with Rogers, the cable company came to an agreement wherein all equipment would be donated to the newly formed, non-profit, Community Media Education Society which in turn created ICTV.

-Academy looking for past grads

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television is conducting a survey to measure the success of its National Apprenticeship Training Program, currently in its 13th year. The Academy is reporting difficulty in locating many of the program’s graduates as most were students when they were participants. They are requesting that all NATP grads contact the academy’s national office at (416) 591-2040.

-People

Laura Talbot-Allan is replacing Allan Darling as secretary general of the CRTC as of June 20.

Pat Schofield is vice-president of development at Sullivan Entertainment. Schofield arrives at Sullivan after a long tenure at the CBC where she served as executive in charge of production for movies and mini-series.

Dome Productions in Toronto adds Cathy MacMillan to DAVE as client services rep. Lisa Kisch also joins DAVE as commercial client services co-ordintator.

In the CBC sports department, broadcaster Scott Oake will permanently join Hockey Night in Canada this fall as feature reporter on the new pre-game show and as game-day reporter. Broadcaster Mark Lee will become host of The CFL on CBC. Nancy Lee has been named deputy head of television sports and David Masse will become business manager in television sports next month.