Fifty new and returning series, along with several new factual and doc projects were featured at CBC’s 2025-26 upfronts presentation yesterday (June 4).

While five original dramas were renewed in May, alongside previously announced renewals for comedies such as North of North (Red Marrow Media, Northwood Entertainment), the presentation did not feature any new original dramas or comedies, which Sally Catto, CBC general manager, entertainment, factual and sports (pictured left) tells Playback Daily is attributed to casting issues and financial readiness. Despite these logistical issues, the pubcaster is still on the lookout for comedies and dramas, with Catto saying there will be more scripted series announcements in the months to come.

Catto and CBC EVP Barbara Williams (pictured right) stressed there are certain categories of stories they are always looking for when it comes to the pubcaster’s scripted slate, such as those from Indigenous storytellers.

In regards to other types of Canadian stories they’re seeking, Catto noted the success of 2023’s BlackBerry (XYZ Films, Rhombus Media, Zapruder Films), which also aired as an extended, three-part miniseries on CBC and CBC Gem. “It would be nice to show more of the business side of this country and the success stories there,” she says. At the same time, there isn’t a particular subject matter CBC is looking for when it comes to greenlights. “We don’t tend to go, ‘Oh, we want a story about [this subject],'” she continued. “We look at it more holistically. We look at the country and say, ‘Who aren’t we representing?'”

Series like Bollywed (Hearthat Entertainment), Canada’s Ultimate Challenge (Insight Productions, The Gurin Company) and Stuff the British Stole (Cream Productions, Wooden Horse, WildBear Entertainment) were absent from the slate. According to Catto, the series “finished their course … I think it is more common today to see more frequent, shorter run series,” she says.

Vancouver-headquartered Small Army Entertainment’s 6 x 30-minute The Assembly, based on the France 2 format Les Rencontres du Papotin, was among the new factual series announcements. Williams explains that although the pubcaster focuses more on developing its own content first, formats are an important part of its strategy.

“We do look to our other public broadcasting colleagues … around the world, and [which] formats have been particularly successful with them,” says Williams. “It’s something for us to take note of, because we have common mandates.”

The pubcaster looks abroad for more than just format adaptations. The 2025-26 slate included several international acquisitions, such as the 10 x 60-minute Hungarian-Austrian period drama Rise of the Raven (working title) from Beta Films and Hungarian-Canadian executive producer Robert Lantos. The series will make its Canadian streaming premiere on CBC Gem, according to a CBC spokesperson.

Kids content is also a large part of CBC’s strategy, which Williams says they have a “moral obligation” to create as part of its overall commitment to Canadians. Despite the decline in Canadian kids content overall in recent years, CBC is still committed and is largely focused on other platforms for that content to reach more of its target audience. According to Williams, a kids-focused FAST channel may be in CBC’s future.

The execs also distinguished between strategies for their preschool and tween-focused series within CBC’s kids content strategy. Although Catto says preschool is where CBC spends “most of our time and resources,” among the new series announced yesterday was the tween-focused 8 x 12-minute The Unstoppable Jenny Garcia (Apartment 11 Productions, Avenida Productions).

“In that tween genre, we have chosen to rely on acquisitions more often than in preschool,” says Catto, attributing this to live-action series for tweens being more expensive.

Apart from its strategy for originals, some programming decisions are made on the fly. Two days before its June 1 broadcast, CBC announced this year’s Canadian Screen Awards would air on the pubcaster proper following the lack of a game seven for the NHL’s Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Finals. This was followed by a one-month streaming window on Crave the day after. Catto says they could not commit to airing the awards in advance on CBC due to its agreement with Rogers to air the NHL playoffs. There could also be more partnerships similar to the one with Crave in the ceremony’s future.

The 2025-26 upfronts also come in the midst of what’s been an uncertain year for CBC, following a federal election which saw the federal Conservative Party repeatedly vow to defund the pubcaster.

At the same time, although “they have reason to be optimistic” the new government will be more supportive of CBC, Williams says it’s too early to make a judgment on what a fourth Liberal term might mean for them, as the federal budget hasn’t been tabled yet.

“We just don’t know,” she says. “Other than if the other guys had won, we might be feeling a little different than we’re feeling today.”

That uncertainty extends to the wider Canadian screen industry as well, given the recently concluded CRTC hearings on the definition of Canadian content, where CBC/Radio-Canada’s Bev Kirshenblatt, executive director of corporate affairs discussed the need for any definition of Canadian content to “recognize the key role of Canadian producers, Canadian talent as well as Canadian broadcasters.”

“We work with anybody and everybody. There’s no better statement than North of North and our great collaboration with Netflix,” says Williams. “But we feel when it comes to Canadian content, the definition should be pretty tight and pretty specific, and it should be all about Canada’s creative community.”

Images courtesy of CBC