January
• ACTRA members go on strike Jan. 8 (the strike will end Feb. 21)
• CanWest Global and U.S. private equity firm Goldman Sachs announce their $2.3-billion proposal to purchase Alliance Atlantis, including its 13 specialty channels, its 50% stake in the CSI franchise, and its Motion Picture Distribution business. CRTC hearings will take place in November, and the commission’s decision on the deal is pending
• Videotron joins Shaw Communications in suspending their monthly payments to the Canadian Television Fund (totaling around $6 million per month). The cablecos are critical of the CTF’s structure and governance
• Konrad von Finckenstein, former judge and Competition Bureau commissioner, is appointed the new chair of the CRTC
February

• Quebec ups the annual budget of provincial funder SODEC by $10 million
• After a stern warning from von Finckenstein, Shaw and Videotron resume payments to the CTF

March
• The CBC pays a reported $100 million per year to renew its status as the chief NHL broadcaster for six years beyond the 2007/08 season, keeping at bay CTV/TSN, which had expressed great interest

April
• CanWest MediaWorks announces the rebranding of its CH Network under the E! banner following a multi-platform agreement with Comcast Entertainment Group’s
U.S.-based E! Networks

May
• Playback reports that independent production in Canada was up 21% in 2006, spurred on by a bigger appetite for programming among U.S. cable broadcasters and domestic specialty channels, and a hungrier international marketplace

June
• The surging loonie hits US$0.94 (June 19), which Paul Bronfman, head of services conglomerate Comweb Group, calls ‘an absolute disaster’ for the service industry, which goes on to suffer a slow summer. However, come fall, the pending Writers Guild of America strike in the U.S. would offset the lull, as Hollywood productions raced to beat the clock
• The CRTC approves CTVglobemedia’s purchase of CHUM, but says it must sell CHUM’s Citytv stations, which it then sells to Rogers Media

August
• Quebec MP Josée Verner is named the new minister of Canadian Heritage, taking the place of Bev Oda
• The Canadian feature film distribution landscape shifts:
-Entertainment One buys Seville Pictures and names former AAC exec Patrice Théroux head of the new division
-Robert Lantos launches a new distribution company, Maximum Films
-Weeks later, former AAC exec Victor Loewy returns to the fold to head the re-minted Alliance Films, now owned by Goldman Sachs and operated by EdgeStone

September
• In a major reshuffle, Corus Entertainment cuts 53 jobs
• Rogers Media wins CRTC approval to take over the five Citytv stations

October
• CanWest MediaWorks cuts 200 jobs amid plans to restructure its news operations across Canada

November
• Peace Arch Entertainment CEO Gary Howsam is arrested in Los Angeles for alleged fraud
• WGA members go on strike in Hollywood on Nov. 5, and they remained on strike as of Playback’s press time
• CBC/SRC appoints a new top gun – lawyer and part-time sportscaster Hubert Lacroix will succeed Robert Rabinovitch after Dec. 31

November/December
• Consolidation is afoot in the animation and post-production worlds, as DHX Media buys Studio B Productions, international player Prime Focus acquires Frantic Films’ FX division, Deluxe takes over Rainmaker’s post ops, and creativePOST buys Eyes Post Group