The Genie Awards will not run on any over-the-air stations next month, and instead will be broadcast only on IFC. A spokesperson for the Canwest-owned cable channel tells Playback Daily that the annual movie awards may also be tape-delayed, airing on Monday, April 12 at 10 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. PT.

The exact scheduling has yet to be confirmed, the spokesperson added.

Organizers at the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television had no immediate comment. The nominees for the 30th annual awards were unveiled on March 1 but organizers have remained coy on their broadcast plans for the big night. Further details are expected to be announced on Monday.

The Genies have been with Canwest since 2008, airing first on the E! stations and IFC, then on Global and IFC in ’09. The move up the dial to IFC alone appears to mark the first time the gala has not been carried by a conventional broadcaster. The awards were previously with CHUM — which ran the show on its Citytv stations and other cable outlets, at times condensing the gala to an hour of highlights that aired later in the evening. The Genies were with CBC before that, but for 1990 (CTV) and ’97 (CHUM).

The Genies have long struggled to draw viewers, sinking to just 157,000 in ’04, though more recent galas drew larger numbers.

______________________________ This story has been corrected. The Genies have been with Canwest since 2008, not 2003 as originally reported.