Corus gets its own Peacock feathers
On top of announcing its conventional and specialty pickups for the fall and winter TV seasons, Corus Entertainment has forged an agreement with NBCUniversal to air the original programming of its SVOD, Peacock, in Canada. The exclusive deal includes a selection of original scripted and unscripted content including movies and specials produced for Peacock. The content, which includes new shows such as Tina Fey’s Girls5Eva, the returning comedy AP Bio (pictured) and the continuation of the 90’s series Punky Brewster, will air across Corus’s various networks (with specific networks and scheduling to be announced).
CBC adds new goals to diversity initiatives
Like many media companies across the country, CBC is developing plans to create a more diverse workforce. The pubcaster’s Diversity and Inclusion Working Group will oversee that, by 2021/22, half of new hires for executives and senior management at CBC/Radio-Canada will be among three targeted groups – Indigenous people, visible minorities and people with disabilities – and that retention and promotion rates will be doubled. Additional efforts include mandatory unconscious bias training for senior management or any employee in a leadership position; utilizing resources to identify internal and external candidates from the target groups for new hires or promotions; and continuing to provide training on “inclusive newsrooms, the impact of unconscious bias on content, and reporting in Indigenous communities.”
Read more in Playback.
Canadaland, Postmedia printing plant workers file for unionizations
CWA Canada is set to bolster its membership, with workers for two prominent Canadian media organizations filing for union certification. Independent podcast network and news organization Canadaland is one of them. A statement from the company’s unionizing workers say the decision was made to help the company move forward in building a more “healthy, sustainable, cooperative, diverse and equitable work culture… this will only become more important as Canadaland grows.” It also stated that it was hoping to implement new standards to “reduce turnover and burnout.” Canadaland has 10 full-time employees with two vacancies and three freelance roles.
Additionally, workers at Postmedia’s Toronto printing plant have also filed for union certification with CWA. The “strong majority” of employees at the plant signed union cards. According to CWA Canada, the workers with the plant say the intent to unionize is to have a say in decisions impacting work lives such as overtime, scheduling, sick days and pay rates. This new move does not include editorial or sales staff with Postmedia, however CWA already represents workers at some of Postmedia’s publications.
CWA’s membership is now up to more than 6,000 workers.
