Canada’s private networks will trot out their fall schedules with the usual pomp and pageantry beginning next week in Toronto, despite the scaled-down upfront presentations put on by their U.S. counterparts, still recovering from the nearly four-month strike by the Writers Guild of America.

Programmers from CTV, Canwest and Rogers Television kept details of their presentations vague, though it appears they will continue to pull out all the stops to impress prospective advertisers.

‘I can tell you we have some surprises in store,’ CTV president of creative, content and channels Susanne Boyce tells Playback Daily, adding that the broadcaster is looking forward to unveiling it’s A-Channel lineup for the first time in addition to the main network’s schedule. CTV’s upfront presentation returns to Toronto’s new opera house on Monday.

Boyce noted that the L.A. screenings were ‘quiet and quick,’ and says she focused on projects that arrived with pilots.

Rogers Television Group and its EVP of programming, Malcolm Dunlop, went shopping for the Citytv stations for the first time.

‘It was challenging…but you just have to roll with the punches,’ he says, adding that Rogers execs focused on obtaining more scripted programming for the Citys, acquired last summer from CTVglobemedia, which was requested to sell them by the CRTC following CTVgm’s takeover of CHUM. Dunlop had bought for Rogers’ OMNI channels in past years.

‘There was so much reality programming on [City] that we felt more scripted programming would be beneficial to us,’ Dunlop explains.

Rogers is planning a June 12 presentation that will be ‘a little splashier than in the past,’ according to Dunlop.

‘CHUM did a very good job at the launch, [but] we want to make this a big deal…we have a sked worth talking about,’ he adds. Rogers will also focus its presentation on the launch of two new OMNI channels in Calgary and Edmonton, in addition to its newly acquired multicultural Channel M in Vancouver.

Canwest EVP of content Barbara Williams says the network is still putting a lot of emphasis on a ‘strong and successful’ upfront presentation, despite what she notes was a very different year for U.S. screenings.

‘They were generally less showy, and less about stars and performance, and more about schedules and shows, and where [U.S.] broadcasters are going,’ says Williams, adding that studios were helpful at showing concepts, giving scripts, and providing access to key creatives, in cases where no pilots were available for new shows.

‘Everyone worked really hard to ensure that nobody was feeling that they were just making decisions in the dark,’ Williams notes.

Canwest will host its presentation on June 4. Williams is mum about the event, only saying, ‘We have a great show for people.’