*Nelvana fills Saturday morning block in America

Nelvana clinched a two-year supply deal with CBS Television to fill the u.s. net’s Saturday morning sked. Fall 1998 will see six fcc-pleasing animated series from the Toronto-hqed studio on the cbs toon lineup: Franklin, Anatole, The Dumb Bunnies, From The Files of the Flying Rhinoceros, Guardians of the Legend and Birdz.

The shows air from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m, and follow the Saturday Morning News from 11 to noon.

Deal wranglers include Creative Artists Agency and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller and Hoberman.

A common thread among the titles is literary roots, with both Dumb Bunnies and Guardians hailing from Scholastic titles. Birdz, the exception, is an original comic adventure series starring an aspiring filmmaker who happens to be a pre-teen stork.

*A/V copro inked with Greece, Denmark

Canada has signed new audiovisual coproduction agreements with Denmark and Greece.

Heritage Minister Sheila Copps says the agreements will allow Canadian producers to pool their creative, artistic, technical and financial resources with Greek and Danish producers for their mutual benefit.

Canada currently has coproduction agreements with some 35 countries.

*French specialties questing early hearing

Responding to the crtc’s decision to postpone the new round of specialty channel hearings until 1999, a group of Quebec-based broadcasters and their partners, including Radio-Canada, Reseaux Premiere Choix, Reseau tva, Radiomutuel and Cancom, have filed a request to the crtc asking for separate and earlier hearings for preferred French-language applications.

According to the broadcasters, capacity conditions are not identical in the English- and French-language markets, and cable capacity, partly due to ongoing upgrades and the lower number of existing specialty channels, currently exists on the main French-language cable systems.

Most of the Quebec-based specialty applicants had been seeking a late 1998 or early 1999 start-up.

*Kaufman extends pact with Alliance’s Citadel

L.A. director and producer Paul A. Kaufman and The Kaufman Company have extended their deal to develop television movies, miniseries, series and feature motion pictures with Alliance Communications-owned Los Angeles prodco Citadel Entertainment.

Kaufman currently has 18 hours of tv movies and miniseries in development at various major networks and cable outlets and is slated to direct the feature thriller Buffalo Jump, with Citadel ceo David R. Ginsburg producing along with Joel Thurm.

In other Alliance news, its purchase of Norstar Entertainment has been confirmed.

*Feature film rep co

A new feature film promotion company, D.A.P. Film Industry Promotions, has opened its doors in Toronto to rep Canadian filmmakers and film service companies on the international festival circuit. Deborah Lobban is president.

d.a.p. will develop and implement customized festival strategies ‘at a fraction of the cost’ required for companies to attend the events themselves.

d.a.p. will launch at Cannes where it is renting a booth in the Marche International du Film. d.a.p. has set up a Website at www/geocities/hollywood/set/1201.

*deluxe stays non-union

Employees at deluxe toronto film lab have voted overwhelmingly to remain a non-union shop.

Reps from iatse had been urging the Toronto lab workers to join their l.a. counterparts as members of the international union that represents workers in various facets of the entertainment industry.

*Animation art auction

The unicef-sponsored animation art auction (originally scheduled in December) will be handled by Christies in Los Angeles on Feb. 23, 1998.

Original production cels from the 1985 Oscar-nominated film The Big Snit, directed by two-time Oscar nominee Richard Condie, will be showcased. Details are at //www.awn.com/awnstore

*Nordicity merges

Effective Jan. 1, Ottawa-based communications, broadcasting and entertainment consultant company Nordicity Group merged with the Canadian partnership of international consultants Coopers & Lybrand.

*Mag North sells Master’s Workshop

Toronto audio and video post shop Magnetic North has sold its satellite audio division Master’s Workshop to its original founder and president, Doug McKenzie.

*Telesat multimedia

Telesat Canada is launching an r&d project to develop an advanced satellite technology platform for the delivery of multimedia services to Canadians.

The project is part of a $10-million program announced by Industry Minister John Manley.

Other companies involved include Nortel, Bell Canada, Spar and sed. The Canadian Space Agency will cover 75% of the costs.

*RTA seeks noms

Toronto’s Ryerson School of Radio and Television Arts has extended the nomination deadline for the J. Stuart MacKay ‘Communicator of the Year’ Award to Friday, Feb. 6.

The award is given to a Canadian who has made significant contributions to human values in broadcasting and the electronic media.

To nomination someone contact Jerry Good, head of audio for the School of Radio and Television Arts, at (416) 979-5107 or e-mail at jergood@acs.ryerson.ca.

*People

* stanfield Distribution, a 50-50 joint venture between WIC Western International Communications and Gordon Stanfield Animation in Vancouver, has named Norman Horowitz as head of u.s. domestic television and Stephanie Dendura as head of European coproductions. Horowitz was the former president of mgm/ua and Dendura was acting president of the Strategic Development Corporation in Paris.

* ytv has appointed former cbc creative head of children’s programs Peter Moss as vp, programming and production. Moss was most recently executive producer of the Children’s Television Workshop, where he was responsible for the creative development of preschool programs for domestic and international markets.

Moss will oversee all ytv and Treehouse tv programming acquisitions and scheduling as well as supervise the expansion and development of programs for ytv’s in-house production arm. He will also be responsible for developing international production partnerships.

* Michelle Maheux has been appointed managing director of the Toronto International Film Festival Group, succeeding Suzanne Weiss.

* Christine Shipton has been appointed senior vp of creative affairs at Alliance Communications where Rose Mangone is now vp of publicity and promotions.

* Baton/ctv has appointed two senior financial officers for the combined company. Robin Fillingham has been appointed executive vp and cfo and Richard Palmer has been named senior vp, finance. Tom Curzon has been promoted to vp communications.

* The Montreal Gazette has named Cinar Films chairman and ceo Micheline Charest one of eight Quebec women newsmakers for 1998.

* Don McMann is taking over the director of communications title at Edmonton’s Great North Communications from Christine Bishop, who has moved on to the freelance world.

* Global Vancouver health reporter Simi Sara is the new Global News at Six weekend edition anchor, replacing Global’s Marret Green, who is concentrating on investigative reporting.