The CBC celebrates 50 years of broadcasting television to Canadians this September. It’s been an exciting history, full of controversy and triumph. As the nation’s public broadcaster it’s covered every major event from the coronation of Queen Elizabeth to the shocking drama of 9/11. Canadians saw Pierre Trudeau say ‘Just watch me’ to a CBC reporter, then call the troops into Quebec. Dief ‘the Chief,’ ‘Mike’ Pearson, Brian Mulroney and Jean Chretien have all trod the boards of our national stage, to be captured at the time and for posterity by CBC cameras.

Montreal: Producers associations from Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand have issued a joint statement criticizing the Screen Actors Guild’s attempt to expand its jurisdiction outside the U.S. (dubbed Global Rule One). The associations, representing 2,500 film and TV companies, say SAG’s contract imposition is a direct threat to established collective agreements and will have serious negative consequences for international film and TV economies.

And so the cracks are finally beginning to show.

The Players Film Company’s synergistic strategy of mining its roster of commercial directors for its feature film division, 49th Parallel, apparently works both ways.

For the last month we’ve been running an ad titled ‘Nipple’ on our website hoping to generate your feedback. Grey Worldwide, Toronto, created the spot for Toronto Fashion Week, but due to its graphic nature it was pulled, being deemed too controversial to promote the event.

On Nov. 2, 1936, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was founded. For 16 years, nothing much happened. Then suddenly, someone had an interesting, creative idea.

Corus buys half of Locomotion

Shaftesbury Films

Here’s a highly selective list of CBC-TV luminaries. Thousands of creative people have gone through the doors of the various studios and offices that have housed the CBC over the years. All of them deserve acclaim. This group has created some of the finest moments ever achieved at the CBC and they confer a flavor of the public broadcaster at its best.

* Toper Taylor has been promoted to president of international distribution, marketing and consumer products for Nelvana.

Vancouver: CBC series Da Vinci’s Inquest came away the big winner at the 2002 Leo Awards in Vancouver May 10 and 11 with nine trophies, including best drama series.

It’s practically a mantra among the executives at CBC. What are the strengths of the public broadcaster? From president Robert Rabinovitch through his vice-presidents Alex Frame and Harold Redekopp to program director Slawko Klymkiw, they all talk about children’s programming, news and current affairs, sports, and arts and entertainment as the focal points for the organization.