Given the cancellation of both Star! Daily and Reel to Real, coverage of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival should have been down to just eTalk and Entertainment Tonight Canada.
Except that Bell TV has stepped in and, like local Rogers Television before it, will cover the annual movie-athon for 24 hours a day on two channels.
The recently renamed satellite carrier will broadcast all TIFF press conferences in high definition (channel 835) and standard (channel 307), beginning tomorrow. It will also air red carpet interviews, news, film trailers and a red carpet show featuring hosts Riaz Meghji, Sandra Benjamin, Gelareh Darabi and Katherine Hammond.
Bell TV parent Bell Canada is a major TIFF sponsor. Last year, its sponsorship deal all but completely cut Rogers out of the press conferences.
On CTV and Global, the glitzier eTalk and Entertainment Tonight Canada will go head-to-head with their respective festival coverage starting today. eTalk will anchor its 10-day coverage from CTV’s downtown Toronto headquarters, the former CHUM building, with hosts Ben Mulroney (pictured) and Tanya Kim. The show airs at 7 pm on CTV and repeats at 8:30 pm on Star!, where it has replaced the half-hour Star! Daily. eTalk will cover events including its Friday night party (also part of the CHUM inheritance) and a Fashion Television event on Saturday (all times Eastern).
ET Canada will broadcast from its usual studio for the first two days of the festival before returning to Toronto landmark Casa Loma on Monday, where the program will be headquartered for the remainder of TIFF. The ET Canada Studio Lounge at Casa Loma will host various films, directors and actors throughout the fest, beginning with the cast of The Other Man, starring Antonio Banderas, followed by Atom Egoyan’s Adoration and Kari Skogland’s Fifty Dead Men Walking.
ET Canada, hosted by Cheryl Hickey and Rick Campanelli, airs weeknights at 7 pm on Global and repeats at 11:30 pm. The show will celebrate its third birthday with a special event on Tuesday featuring musician David Usher.
From Playback Daily
