Herewith, Playback’s weekly curated briefs of news of interest to the industry.

Air dates

Degrassi (pictured) returns to Muchmusic on Feb. 15 at 9 p.m. ET with the first of a two-part episode.

Entitled Bitter Sweet Symphony, Part One, it is touted as being one of the most attention-getting episodes in a while. Part Two unspools on Feb. 22.

Meanwhile Losing Paradise, a documentary directed and produced by singer and actor Claudja Barry, is set to air on Rogers’ OMNI Channel Feb. 17. In the documentary the Jamaican-born, Canadian-raised Barry examines the negative impact that violent themes in popular dancehall music has had on global perceptions of the Caribbean island.

The premiere of The Next Step, an original Family Channel serialized reality-style drama from Toronto’s Temple Street, takes place Mar. 8 at 7 p.m. ET/PT. The series follows an elite group of dancers who strive to make it in the world of competitive dance. Immediately following the premiere episode viewers can catch The Next Step Aftershow featuring hosted plotline breakdowns, interviews with the cast and dancing tips.

App milestone

Quebec-based media powerhouse Videotron has reported that downloads via its recently launched Illico.tv iPad app have topped 100,000 in just six weeks. The app allows linear or video-on-demand viewing of 40 television channels and thousands of hours of programming, in French and English.

Broadcaster BB-1o apps

In tandem with the launch this past week of the BlackBerry 10 platform and devices, Sportsnet and TVO unveiled new apps specifically designed to integrate with the devices. The free Sportsnet Mobile app was described by Rogers as providing greater access to real-time-updating stats and scores as well as customizable alerts.

Meanwhile, TVO unveiled a fleet of six new apps (which like the Sportsnet app are available at the BlackBerry World online store), all designed for use by children. They include the free apps Alphabet Goop, Explore the Night, Sign Match and Cake Artist, the 99 cent Reading Rangers and the $1.99 Tumbletown Mathletics.

Awards

Ora, a 3D film by the NFB, won the Autodesk 3D Independent Short Film Competition at the 3D Creative Arts Awards earlier this week.

The film (pictured), which first received festival rollouts in 2011, is directed by Philippe Baylaucq, produced by René Chénier and featured choreography by José Navas. The innovatively-shot movie uses only body heat as the light source as it captures six dancers’ artistic movements.

The award was handed out during a ceremony in Beverley Hills that was part of the annual meeting of the International 3D Society.

New TJFF program manager

Stuart Hands has been promoted to program manager from position of assistant program manager at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival. He has worked at the festival since 2006, and among other industry experience has written for the Canadian film journal CineAction. The festival runs Apr. 11 to 21.