TVOntario is $10 million short, and is turning to its viewers for help. Speaking this week before the Economic Club of Canada, CEO Lisa de Wilde said the educhannel needs to ‘adopt a new model’ to pay its bills; one in which ‘the bulk of the funding may come from the government, but more and more comes from the private sector, including individual donors.’ The channel has been overhauling its operations for a few years now, embracing new media and working to distinguish its high-minded, long-view programming from that of the commercial world. Eighty percent of TVO’s funding comes from the province. A fundraising campaign calling on Ontarians to ‘go public’ is running on the channel and its website.

• Nelly Furtado has joined Michael McGowan’s Score: A Hockey Musical, playing a zealous sports fan alongside fellow singers Olivia Newton-John, Marc Jordan and newcomer Noah Reid.

• A video that included footage from the 1936 Berlin Olympics has been pulled by organizers of the Winter Games in Vancouver, following complaints from the Canadian Jewish Congress. The four-minute video included scenes from Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia — an acclaimed but still-controversial doc because of its association with the Nazis. The video was on the Olympic website and shown on board buses, say reports.

• Toronto-based disc maker Cinram has lost its biggest contract, Warner Home Video, which was worth some 28% of its total annual revenue.

• Mike Myers could be the worst actor of the decade, according to the Razzie Awards. The Toronto-born expat was nominated for the dubious honor this week for his work on 2003’s The Cat in the Hat and The Love Guru. He faces Ben Affleck, Eddie Murphy, Rob Schneider and John Travolta.

• Sony and E1 Entertainment have picked up the rights to Beat the World from Toronto’s Inner City Films. E1 will handle the dance film in Canada, the U.K. and Scandinavia, while Sony Worldwide Acquisitions Group has all the U.S. rights.

• Citytv has again followed the lead of NBC, adding Jerry Seinfeld’s The Marriage Ref to its Thursday nights — in the 10 p.m. ET slot that belonged to The Jay Leno Show. The comedy debuts on March 4.

• Guru Studio has partnered with interactive house Zinc Roe Design to develop an online component based on its preschool series Justin Time, now shooting for Family Channel Canada.

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Photo: Shirlaine Forrest via Wikipedia