Herewith, Playback‘s weekly roundup of various broadcast industry news.

Bomb Girls away

The premiere date of season two of Global’s scripted period drama Bomb Girls, will premiere Jan. 2. The mini-series pegged to life in a Toronto munitions factory during World War II picks up the story during 1942, a hinge point of the conflict when victory against Germany and Japan was still far from certain. Season two, production on which is to end in Toronto in December,  includes guest star Rosie O’Donnell. It also features Meg Tilly, Jodi Balfour and Ali Liebert, along with Charlotte Hegele, Antonio Cupo, Anastasia Philips, Sebastian Pigott, Peter Outerbridge and Peter Otterbridge.

Bomb Girls is produced by Montreal-based Muse Entertainment and Back Alley Films.

Short films get honours

Short film Long Branch, directed by Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart, this week won the $1,250 A&E Short Filmmakers Award for best film and the $750 Bite Comedy Award for best comedy in the National Screen Institute’s online short film festival.

As well, Travels With My Brother, directed by June Chua and Christine Alexiou, took the $2,500 Shaw Media Fearless Female Director Award, the NSI disclosed.

An honorable mention nod was given by the awards jury to Do I Come On Too Strong? directed by Brenda Kovrig.

Rewind Movieola

Indie broadcaster Channel Zero is dusting off the old VCR and videocassettes to take TV viewers back in time with its latest specialty offering, Rewind.

It’s a move that sees Channel Zero replacing its Movieola property, which is transitioning to an online-only service.

Much like the indie broadcaster’s Silver Screen Classics features programming from the ’30s to ’60s, the new channel, which is aimed at Generation Xers, will feature classic films from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.

The channel will be available nationally through providers, such as Rogers and Shaw, and regionally through Bell Aliant, Cogeco, MTS and Videotron.

Rewind launches with a 60-day free trial starting Saturday.

Joytv to the nation

ZoomerMedia’s  two over-the-air stations Joytv10 (Surrey, Fraser Valley and Vancouver) and Joytv11 (Winnipeg) have gone national thanks to a distribution deal with Bell Satellite TV.  The new distribution means approximately 2 million additional homes across Canada will receive the family-friendly, culturally diverse television service, ZoomerMedia explained in a statement ahead of the national carriage that commenced Thursday.

Joytv offers classic comedies such as I Love Lucy and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Canadian dramas such as Heartland, Hart of Dixie, and a variety of faith-focused programming.