CTV News is asking the CRTC to revise the licence of CTV Newsnet to put it on a more competitive footing with all of the U.S. news services now beaming into this market – and the ones trying to gain entry.

Media in Canada has asked some of the industry’s top broadcast specialists to give their take on the new programs being offered this fall. We will be revealing their picks and pans in the weeks running up to the launches.

Media planning systems supplier Telmar, of New York, has acquired Peaktime, a TV planning and yield management system developed in Europe. The resulting unit, called Telmar Peaktime S.A.S., will expand Telmar’s customer base to 30 countries, including Canada. The system enables users to track real-time performance of TV audience delivery in a graphic interface.
Other Peaktime products available in Canada include the new yield management software, which reports yield on TV plans, measures ROI and presents the findings in a simple, understandable format. The software works with all types of meter data. Telmar’s Canadian subsidiary Telmar Harris is also introducing a new service, Cross Tab Lab, to Canada. The system uses industry studies, such as PMB, or proprietary studies combined with advanced coding to help planners identify a number of factors such as product loyalty.
http://www.ca.telmar.com.

Timed with its fall programming, Radio Canada has given its all-French site a facelift. The Web site comes complete with a new welcome page and visitors can check out the updated sites of the various television series and sports statistics.
Additionally, the site will offer more segments of audio and video with special sections like sports statistics.
http://www.radio-canada.ca/television/

Beginning Aug. 28 and carrying through until Oct. 1, Teletoon is launching everything new (and including one series finale) – from Atomic Betty, Braceface, The Flintstones Flyer, The Tofus, Zeroman, Delta State, The Brak Show, Futurama to special movie presentations Dragons: Fire and Ice and Scooby Doo.
And along with Teletoons fall season launch comes ad opps galore.
‘We have multi-media opportunities with on-air promos, online presence and a magazine (Not for Adults) that we can customize for clients,’ says Leslie Krueger, director of marketing and promotions at Teletoon.
‘And for Teletoon Canadian original productions there are opportunities for more extensive tie-ins depending on the product.’

The highly rated and watched U.S. series, The 4400, is making its debut in Canada on Space with a special two-hour pilot on Sept. 22. This five-hour drama series follows 4,400 people who have disappeared from various parts of the world and are suddenly returned to present-day Earth after being missing for an extended period of time. The 4400 tracks their re-entry into the world, the impact it has on them and those they left behind and how the rest of the population react to their assimilation.

With the sixth edition of The Bachelor rolling out Sept. 22, it promises to have the same accoutrements found in the previous shows – but with a twist. This time the 25 bachelorettes, aged 26 to 39, will handpick their bachelor in the ‘Ladies Choice Ceremony’ when The Bachelor premiers on Citytv in Toronto and Vancouver next month.
Among the other firsts for the series, will be having the selected bachelor move into the women’s villa for the show’s entirety.

The 6th annual Canadian Urban Music Awards (CUMAs) will be hitting CBC Oct. 21. The event celebrates the best in our nation’s urban music industry and recognizes the artists and behind-the-scenes personnel who drive the urban music scene in Canada. It takes place at the John Bassett Theatre inside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.