Production workers and support staff at CBC are ready to hit the picket line Aug. 15 to back demands for greater job security, following a July ballot in which members of the Canadian Media Guild voted 87.3% in favor of a strike.
A 21-day cooling-off period is in place. Both sides and two federally appointed mediators plan to continue negotiating up to the strike deadline. CMG represents 5,500 employees at CBC.
The vote comes at a bad time for the public broadcaster. An August strike could cancel its broadcasts of the Canadian Football League season and of the Canada Games in Regina.

Alliance Atlantis plans to lower the curtain on its small theater chain by the end of September by selling off the five locations it co-owns through its distribution wing.
The movie houses – 24 screens in Ontario and B.C. – have operated under the AA brand since the late ’90s and are owned by Cineplex Galaxy and the Motion Picture Distribution LP, which is half owned by Alliance.
AA originally shared the locations with Famous Players, which Cineplex bought in June.

Shaw Cable will now offer wider carriage of OUTtv, after a long-standing conflict between the owners of Canada’s gay-themed channel and Shaw Communications was settled last month. Similar negotiations with Bell, however, are ongoing.

Ken Ferguson fired back at his critics last month – looking to put down rumors that have surrounded his deal to build Toronto’s newest, biggest studio with an open letter to the local film community.

Vancouver post shop Rainmaker and Halifax filmmaker Howard Green scored two nods each when the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced its nominations for the 2005 Emmy Awards on July 14. This year’s Emmys will be presented on Sept. 18 in L.A., with the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony taking place Sept. 11.

After its third week on the big screen, Aurore, the directorial debut of screenwriter Luc Dionne (Monica la mitraille), has grossed more than $3 million.

Hockey-hungry Canadians were quick to jump at one of the first NHL-related broadcasts since fans were assured that hockey would be back for the 2005/06 season.

The Hot Sheet tracks Canadian box-office results for the period July 15-21 and television ratings for the period July 18-24.

Don McLean, the epicenter of Toronto’s commercial production industry and head of The Partners’ Film Company for more than two decades, died on July 12 amid complications from heart bypass surgery. He was 72.

Richard Leiterman, one of Canada’s most definitive and respected cinematographers, died on July 14 of complications from the rare disease amyloidosis. He was 70.

School is out for Decode Entertainment. The company has backed down from its fight with residents of an east Toronto neighborhood, and now says it will move its series Naturally, Sadie out of nearby St. Aloysius school by the end of August.

Lions Gate, ThinkFilm ink deal