CTV and its partners have landed the broadcast rights to the Olympic Games of 2010 and 2012, ending months of fierce competition against CBC with a record-high bid of US$153 million, roughly CDN$192 million.

Quebec’s movies have again swept the Genie nominations and, this year, going into the silver anniversary of the awards, hold sway over almost all of the key categories, including best director, actor, actress and best picture on the strength of such recent box-office hits as Le Dernier tunnel, Ma vie en cinémascope and Monica la mitraille.

The focus groups have spoken. The life of Jane Black appears to be funny, well plotted, populated with strong comic characters and, on the whole, is likely to click with its target demographic. But the title character needs some work.

In 2004, 4.5% of what Canadians spent at theaters went to Canadian films, up from 3.6% in 2003, evidence that the industry is inching ever closer to Telefilm Canada’s goal of a 5% market share for domestic films by 2006, according to stats released last month by the federal agency.

Park City, UT: For a year that looked slow for Canada at the Sundance Film Festival, with only one feature and seven shorts playing the indie fest, it turned out to be anything but.

Global scored big with this year’s NFL final when 3.1 million Canadians tuned in to Super Bowl XXXIX on Feb. 6, drawing a 13.1 rating with 18-49s in Toronto and 13.8 in Vancouver. And yet, the numbers were down from last year’s big game, which brought in 3.6 million and hit shares of 16.3 with the same demo in Toronto and 13.9 in Vancouver.

Don McKellar’s Childstar won four awards from the Vancouver Film Critics Circle, including best Canadian film, best actor and best director for McKellar. It also took five Genie nominations, including best screenplay (see story, p. 2). But despite such critical acclaim, box-office receipts for McKellar’s second feature are not nearly as positive.

Divine Restoration could also be the name of a series about the rebound of NATPE, and not just one of the hotter-selling titles at this year’s market from Ellis Entertainment.

Ottawa: The CFTPA is calling for new strategies regarding the Canadian production sector, following the first marked decline in film and TV volumes published in its annual state-of-the-industry study, Profile 2005.

Famous Players doesn’t just want people to see Sideways. It wants people to see it two, three, maybe even four times, and it’s dropped the prices at its Ontario theaters to make it happen. The exhibitor chain announced late last month that it was knocking $4 off its general admission price – down to $9.95 – in hopes of drawing bigger crowds.

* Peter Moss has gone from EVP of programming to creative consultant at Corus Entertainment’s TV division, looking to concentrate more on producing and directing. Meanwhile, Phil Piazza has been appointed VP of programming for children’s television, a position previously held by Joanna Webb, who is now VP of programming at Corus-owned W Network.

The CRTC has released a series of incentives intended to improve the viewership of French-language drama on private and conventional TV. Broadcasters can now earn the right to air between two and three additional minutes of advertising for each hour of original French-language drama aired during peak hours.