The 29th edition of the Banff World Television Festival (June 8-11) has brought back the mountain-view barbecue, complete with bonfires around which city slickers can drink and dance the night away at festival’s end. But before delegates don cowboy hats to celebrate the dizzying 360-panorama of the Canadian Rockies and their deal-making, the mood in Banff promises to be more austere, as broadcasters continue to recover from the U.S. writers’ strike and ratings dips for some popular U.S. network series.

Shifting through this year’s Banff World Television Festival schedule is a bit like going to a candy shop – the menu’s so sweet that it’s hard to decide exactly what to sample. Below are six sessions that are sure to make your festival a real educational treat.

Efforts by CBC to restart talks cut short by surprise save, dealing enormous blow to Hockey Night in Canada. Anthem to play on TSN, RDS and in 2010 Olympics coverage

Separate boards necessary to run public and private sides, says von Finckenstein

Nova Scotia native and Pittsburgh captain did not get to hoist Stanley Cup in his first NHL final, but helped push viewers to CBC and RDS

Deal with Decode adds animated series to weekend morning block of kid-aimed offshoot Sprout

Redo of 90210 lands on prime, post-House real estate, scheduling conflict sends Fox thriller to second-chair stations. The Guard follows The Border to fall

The Nature of Things bows on CBC later this month with a mutli-part doc on China, followed by one on the Antarctic

Six-year pact gives sportscaster 70 regular season games and its first shot at covering Canadians in post season. It’s ‘huge’ says Brace