In what is shaping up as the second U.S. network deal for Canadian indie producers this week, Shaftesbury Films has finalized a deal to sell CTV’s upcoming drama The Listener to NBC.

Others deals in the works as drama-starved American broadcasters gorge on strike-proof Canadian series include CBS and ABC — understood to be in the running to acquire CBC’s The Border from Peter Raymont’s White Pine Pictures, as part of a deal being stick-handled by Content Film.

ABC Family meanwhile has bought 13 episodes of the new CBC comedy Sophie from Jocelyn Deschênes’ Sphère Média Plus.

CTV and Shaftesbury announced the sale of The Listener to the peacock network early on Friday. NBC is to pick up 13 one-hour episodes of the Canadian drama greenlit by CTV in December.

The NBC deal follows rival CBS earlier in the week acquiring Flashpoint, a series from Pink Sky Entertainment and Avmar Entertainment that’s also slated for CTV.

The Listener portrays a young paramedic, played by Craig Olejnik (In God’s Country) who has telepathic powers. Also starring is Ennis Esmer (The Toronto Show). The Canadian-made series was created by Michael Amo (Blessed Stranger), with Clement Virgo directing the pilot and Shaftesbury boss Christina Jennings executive producing.

The Listener is expected to follow a similar trajectory as Flashpoint, completing a spring-summer shooting schedule with an all-Canadian writing and production crew ahead of network delivery beginning mid-summer.

The possibility that either The Listener or Flashpoint will be simulcast by CTV will depend on where NBC and ABC eventually place them in their schedule.

As the final deal points on the sale of The Listener to NBC were hammered out Thursday, Shaftesbury, CTV, NBC and the series’ U.S. distributors, Program Partners and the William Morris Agency, all declined public comment.

But behind the scenes, the word is NBC had been eyeing CTV’s The Listener well before CBS made its move on Flashpoint.

According to sources, the seeds of the deal for The Listener were laid at MIPCOM when British producer Power sold its $35-million drama Robinson Crusoe to NBC, with the U.S. network paying around $10 million for 13 episodes and the British telefilm producer retaining worldwide distribution rights, excluding the U.S.

The deal by newly recruited NBC programming head Ben Silverman for Robinson Crusoe was considered no one-off. NBC last September also picked up the horror anthology series Fear Itself from Vancouver-based Lionsgate for its summer 2008 schedule. That drama series is being shot in Edmonton as part of a two-year deal with the province of Alberta.

Fast forward to this week’s deals for The Listener and Flashpoint, and Canadian production crews and creative talent — long the bane of Los Angeles below-the-line workers — have given a big shout-out that Canada can serve U.S. network needs amid a fast-changing drama development landscape.

‘It’s a coming of age in terms of Canadian writers and performers and producers and directors. The talent has been there for a long time,’ Ira Levy, cofounder of Breakthrough Films & Television, said from Las Vegas while attending NATPE.

Significantly for the Canadian industry, the deals for The Listener and Flashpoint, and possible deals for The Border and Sophie, result from first-time ventures by Canadian broadcasters into pilot production, just as the U.S. networks are getting out of that expensive game.

The consensus is the ground has shifted, as U.S. networks look as never before to pick up Canadian dramas considered ripe for an American audience and which can air on both sides of the border.

Canadian producers that have long made shows for U.S. cable channels are seen to be well well-positioned to help American networks with their drama needs as they compete with HBO and Showtime.

‘Canada is ready for the big time. If you look at the [Canadian] programs that are being produced now, they’re interesting, they’re innovative, they bring a new perspective,’ said ACTRA national executive Stephen Waddell.