Scouring dusty old records might sound dull, but Patent Bending, the Discovery Channel’s new half-hour series, proves otherwise. Premiering August 22 at 8:30 p.m. ET/11:30 p.m. PT, the 14 episodes examine nifty inventions that never made it off the drawing board. Then a team comprised of an industrial engineer, a scientist and a jack-of-all-trades inventor gives the designs a second chance, figures out why they didn’t work, corrects the problems and comes up with new hybrid versions.

Included are a bicycle-operated lawnmower, a floating tent, uphill skis, a motorized picnic table, a helmet-mounted parachute for emergency evacuations of tall buildings, a carwash contraption for humans contaminated with nuclear fallout and, yes, a better mousetrap.

So far, automotive and retail advertisers are getting in on the action, but sponsorship status is still on offer.

‘A host of organic product placement opportunities’ has been built into W Network’s upcoming The Smart Woman Survival Guide series, says Marilyn Orecchio, director of sales for the net.

The 13-episode lifestyle series about the lives and loves of a group of women who work on a fictional lifestyle TV show called Smart Woman debuts this fall, but the first two seasons have already been mapped out, complete with brand integration opps.

Although most viewers were still interested in musical reality shows, the situation in the Middle East prompted a lot of clicking to news shows. For a list of the top 30 TV shows for the week of July 17-23, 2006, according to BBM, please click the links below:

National
Ontario
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Vancouver

Nielsen Media Research in the U.S. recently announced that, beginning this November, it will report national commercial minute ratings in addition to the program ratings they currently provide. This announcement and subsequent stories in the American media have caused confusion in the Canadian industry, and left some people wondering when a commercial minute audience service will be offered in Canada.

Actually, Canada is way ahead of our southern neighbour when it comes to commercial ratings. Nielsen Media Research launched the service in Canada back in 2000 through its SpotWatch product. A screen capture from the Executive Summary report of SpotWatch shown here features Total Program Rating and AA (average audience), Exclusive Program Ratings and AA (just the program, without the commercial spots), and Exclusive Commercial Ratings and AA (just the commercial spots, without the program.

Corus Custom Networks, a division of Corus Entertainment, will roll out a new format for its TV listings channels in 77 markets across western Canada throughout the summer. Shifting from a vertically-split to a horizontally-split format will allow the listings to be displayed along the bottom half of the screen, while the top half is split into two advertising blocks.

One block will feature advertising in conventional 4 x 3 broadcast format, enabling clients to air commercials already produced for conventional television. The second ad block supports text-only content and will feature local weather and community messages. It can be linked to run simultaneously with the commercials airing in the adjacent advertising block.

The new format, which will be operated and managed on Shaw Cable-owned channels, ‘provides engaging, viewer-friendly information while delivering an excellent package to our advertising clients,’ said Tyler Alton, Corus Custom Networks VP/GM.

A screen capture of the new format can be seen at http://www.coruscustomnetworks.com/tvl.asp.

Lots of news from TSN these days. First up was locking down a four-year extension of its broadcast rights to the IIHF Men’s World Hockey Championship series, effective 2008 through 2011, including comprehensive multimedia rights. Added to that was a six-year deal with the Canadian Curling Association and a seven-year extension with Hockey Canada. (All are shared with RDS, le Réseau des Sports.)

Along with these initiatives comes an array of advertising and brand exposure opps including: full sponsorships with opening and closing billboards, feature opportunities, including Live at the Intermission, scoring summaries, starting goalies, game story and the TSN Turning Point.

But what’s arguably of more interest – given the propensity of tech-savvy TSN viewers to seek sports programming on emerging media – are numerous opportunities on digital platforms. On broadband, these include streaming video ads with synchronized ad banners (so that even after a commercial is over, a sponsor still has a persistent message on-screen). On mobile, spots are available for short commercials before or after short clips. And on video podcasting, options include short billboards or commercials surrounding downloaded clips. As well, podcasts are available for sponsorship. TSN encourages its clients to create 15- and 5-second versions of their traditional 30-second TV ads to allow the net to use shorter versions on digital platforms without the need for editing.

While P&G and Sony Pictures stood pat, GM climbed from 15th spot to 3rd and The Brick dropped from 3rd to 9th position. Meanwhile, Bell Globemedia rose from 9th to 5th and Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm made it the top 15 after a longish absence. This info was gathered through Montreal-based ELODA’s online TV ad tracking, auditing and viewing services. All data supplied is based on the ELODA recording grid.

Teletoon has entered into nine new development agreements with Canadian producers. Seven of the projects are being developed for kids and family viewing, while two have been slated for ‘The Detour,’ which is Teletoon’s post-9 p.m. programming block.

Now in development, with oversight from Teletoon’s original production team to evolve these projects into strong branded series, are: Best Ed from Toronto-based 9 Story Entertainment, Groove High from Montreal-based Divertissement Subséquence, Herman, from Ottawa-based Funbag Animation Studios, Jet Force from Toronto-based Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc., My Life Me from Montreal-based Carpediem Film & Television; Punch from Montreal-based Kiwi Animations, Short Detour, a co-production between Montreal-based Zone3 and Toronto-based Nelvana, The Dating Guy, from Toronto-based Marblemedia and The Zodiacs from Toronto-based Portfolio Entertainment.

Astral Media’s Family Channel will launch its fall programming on September 8 with ‘Get Schooled,’ an interactive promotion that puts a Family-style spin on schoolwork.

Every Friday evening for four weeks, goofy homework projects will be assigned via on-air promo spots, with viewers having a week to complete and submit assignments online for a chance to win the grand prize. It’s a cool, Family-supplied substitute teacher who will bring ‘never-a-dull-moment’ experiences to the winner’s school. Select entries will also be posted online for visitors to grade, and each week the submission that gets the best grade will win a secondary prize.

After debuting to wild applause in the U.S. last month, Extreme ChampionshipWrestling (ECW) has burst across the border and will premiere on Global August 11 in a midnight timeslot.

Global will also add both Monday Night RAW and SmackDown! in Quebec, beginning with RAW on August 7 at midnight on CKMI, with SmackDown! airing on Saturday nights at 12:30 a.m. ET on CJNT, starting on August 11. In addition to its airing on Global across the country, ECW will also be shown on Xtreme on Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. and Sundays at 4:00 a.m. ET.

Meanwhile, RAW will move to 10 p.m. ET on The Score Network in Canada particularly for the enjoyment of WWE fans in Quebec.