Even as the NHL and its players race towards the point of no return, CBC is keeping quiet about its plans for the very real possibility of an entire season sans hockey.

For Canadian news consumers, the devastating Boxing Day earthquake and tsunami in Asia and Africa has led to a flurry of media coverage that will likely continue until at least the end of January. More than two dozen Canadian journalists and supporting crew have been reporting from the affected countries since Dec. 26. And while the newsroom chiefs have kept an eye on the rising costs of the extensive coverage, the media outlets have been focused on the enormous human story and galvanizing relief efforts at home.

Vancouver: Brightlight Pictures, one of the busiest service producers on the West Coast, is threatening to move almost US$100 million in feature productions to Ontario over the next few months because of that province’s newly improved tax credits.
The US$50-million videogame-turned-thriller Dungeon Siege, in the works for Boll KG of Germany, could save ‘hundreds of thousands’ by going east, says Brightlight partner Shawn Williamson.

Dramatically increased costs and concerns about organization have put NATPE on probation with Telefilm Canada, casting a shadow across the upcoming TV market, set for Jan. 25-27 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Convention Center in Las Vegas.

Canadian broadcasters grew richer while their commitments to Canadian drama, at least on the private English side, withered to a fraction of their schedules, says the CRTC’s fifth annual Broadcasting Policy Monitoring Report.

Vancouver: Appropriately, a feature about downhill skiers won the Audience Award for best feature film at the fourth annual Whistler Film Festival that, after a four-day run in December, handed the prize to Crazy Canucks by Alberta director Randy Bradshaw. The pic, about the successes of the men’s alpine team in the 1970s, played as the opening gala at Whistler and is expected to air on CTV next year.

Vancouver: As part of the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of B.C.’s examination of the province’s production slump, the association reviewed the numbers and – according to Cheryl Nex, EVP at Entertainment Partners Canada – volumes in 2004 declined 32.4% in annual before-tax payroll from 2003. That translates into a drop of $100 million in payroll or 2,000 people who worked in 2003 but have not worked a single day in 2004.

In the restaurant business, there is ‘front of house’ – the dining room, which is all the glam and ambiance and service – and the ‘back of house’ – the kitchen, which is all heat and toil and ego.

Vancouver: Terminal City, a $12.5-million miniseries in production in Victoria until mid-February, may be about the ravages of breast cancer, but it proves the B.C. capital has a lot of life yet as a television Mecca – especially as the loonie rises against the U.S. greenback.

Vancouver: Back in March, Justice David Tysoe of the B.C. Supreme Court published a series of five recommendations designed to make B.C. labor more producer-friendly – especially for the province’s U.S, customers. The report was specifically critical of IATSE Local 891 and Teamsters Local 155 for the large backlog of grievances and seniority rules that limited hiring.

Companies and unions across Canada are starting to offer lower rates when dealing with U.S. customers in order to offset the ill effects of the surging loonie which, now trading at well above the US$0.80 mark, is threatening to drive service shoots out of the country.
Lions Gate Studios in B.C. has dropped its rates by some 10% and is now negotiating on a show-by-show basis, according to president Peter Leitch.

The Canadian Television Fund’s switch to Broadcaster Performance Envelopes as a way to dole out production funding has been very good for Montreal producer Joceyln Deschenes.
The president of Sphere Media Plus has four productions listed in the Nov. 4 updated roster of productions greenlit through the new CTF funding system now eight months old, and that’s only 66% of the titles on his estimated $30-million slate of production for 2004, his biggest year so far.