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In Brief: RideTV coming to Canada; Dane, Stewart win WGA award

By Regan Reid
February 24, 2017
The equestrian-focused channel is set to debut across the country, The Commute writers honoured Stateside, plus more news.

RideTV trots into Canada
Fort Worth, Texas-based Ride Television Network is set to come to Canada. The CRTC added the horse and rural living-focused channel to the list of non-Canadian stations authorized for distribution. The network’s application was supported by Telus Communications. The channel will be available to subscribers across the country. Ride TV produces more than 90% of its content in-house, with its cornerstone programming being live championship equestrian sports.

Canadian writers honoured Stateside
Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart, the writer/director team behind I Put A Hit on You, picked up the Writers Guild of America award for Original Short Form New Media. “The Party,” an episode from the duo’s nine-part web series, The Commute, was awarded Feb. 19 at a gala in Beverly Hills, CA. In other awards news, Canadian author, screenwriter and journalist Kim Izzo was one of five writers named to the Humanitas’ New Voices mentorship program. The mentorship for emerging TV writers comes with a $15,000 prize and the opportunity to write a pilot script under the supervision of showrunners on the Humanitas Advisory Council. Members of the Council include Greg Berlanti (The Flash), Damon Lindelof (Lost) and Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy). Izzo previously picked up the Telefilm New Voices Award in 2016.

Mom vs. Matchmaker returns
U.S. channel Myx TV has set the season two launch date for Mom vs. Matchmaker, the unscripted series produced by Toronto-based Go Button Media. Season two will premiere March 14 on the Asian-American entertainment channel, which is carried by Comcast, Time Warner and DirectTV. The series is executive produced by Go Button’s Daniel Oron and Natash Ryan, as well as Myx TV’s Miguel Santos. It follows matchmaker Carmelia Ray as she competes with mothers to find a winning partner for their sons or daughters. Season one of the series was picked up by Stornoway Communications, which shut down its last remaining channel, iChannel in August of last year. Season two will air in Canada on ZeeTV.

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