* Gemini- and Emmy-winner Scott Moore, the former head of production at Rogers Sportsnet, is the new executive director of CBC Sports, replacing Nancy Lee.

* TVOntario has picked up the second season of the preschooler Hi-5 (45 x 30) and the live-action The Shak (70 x 60) from Southern Star International.

I read with a huge amount of interest Marcus Robinson’s article ‘Where are our screenwriting stars?’ in the March 5 edition of Playback – and was immediately prompted to write to you. As a struggling Canadian writer, I wholeheartedly agree with Robinson’s position about the sorry state of Canadian film. To actually look at the figures in black and white gives one pause.

* Jeff Sagansky owns part of Peace Arch Entertainment, not Peace Point Entertainment, as written in a story in the March 5 issue.

Zombie comedy grosses in the low 100s, despite multimillion-dollar push. TVA Films boss remains ‘confident’ in picture and the power of word of mouth

If one thing came into focus at the Playback Production Innovations Forum March 8 in Toronto, it’s that the time is now for a concerted push on the part of the TV industry, government, and the regulator to accelerate the take-up of high definition in this country. If not, the consequences will be severe.

Federal budget restates fondness for market forces, announces independent review of policies due before next budget

If you’ve got a Canadian passport, you might as well fit yourself for an eyepatch and tricorn hat. The Americans have lately been crowing that we’re a band of content pirates, but Hollywood can help itself by doing business with iTunes Canada and providing a library of legal content to download. That, and some stronger legislation from Ottawa, would go a long way to keeping us honest.

When they put the handcuffs on a twentysomething in L.A. last month for uploading Flushed Away and Happy Feet to the Internet, it was thanks to a hot tip received by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. And it wasn’t CSI: LA that cracked the case, but Deluxe Postproduction Toronto.

The Hot Sheet tracks Canadian box-office results for the period March 2-8, 2007.

Hi, I’m common sense. I was one of the six million Canadians who tuned in to the Academy Awards and, Hooray for Canada, we bagged an Oscar! The Danish Poet. Best animated short. Good old NFB, love those cartoon shorts, they’re world class. Then I turned on the telly to have a look for it…