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The Challenge continues to innovate and recreate the game that started on MTV years ago with a battle between The Real World and Road Rules.

An epic 40th season called Battle of the Eras will arrive on the network, featuring 40 cast members, including stars from all eras of the reality TV competition series.

It follows Battle For a New Champion and brings back some of the stars from that season, including Kyland Young, Nurys Mateo, and Horacio Gutierrez.

Horacio and Nurys, who have become The Challenge’s latest power couple, debuted on the unique Ride or Dies season but had different teammates.

While Nurys partnered with friend Nelson Thomas, Horacio entered with his friend Olivia Kaiser.

That particular season, featuring stars like Johnny Bananas, Aneesa Ferreira, Jordan Wiseley, and Tori Deal, has now received an award nomination.

The Challenge receives two reality TV award nominations

The 11th Annual American Reality...

“Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent” may be the biggest original TV series premiere Canada has ever had. That means, when that famous “dun-dun” opens the series on Feb. 22 via Citytv, the pressure is on.

It’s notoriously hard to get a show greenlit in Canada. Funding challenges, market size and competition from U.S. acquisitions mean few, if any, Canadian series debut on the Big 3 commercial networks each season. Even public broadcaster CBC, which boasts the highest number of originals on a major network, still relies on acquisitions to fill out its primetime programming grid.

Figuring out how to make noise with a new series in a crowded landscape isn’t a uniquely Canadian challenge, but there are more hurdles here. That’s why from the beginning, a Canadian adaptation of “Criminal Intent” felt like a win — at least from a viewership and marketing standpoint. It’s a recognizable...

Snap’s first Canadian original explores indigenous culture through a Gen Z lens. The 10-part series, called Reclaim(ed), is hosted by Marika Sila, an Inuk actress and stunt performer who was just cast with her brother on the next season of The Amazing Race Canada, and Kairyn Potts, a two-spirit Nakota Sioux indigenous youth advocate, motivational […]

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Boat Rocker Media, the entertainment company behind Orphan Black, Dino Ranch, and Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry has closed an $170 million initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

It trades under the ticker Brmi.

Boat Rocker Studios creates, produces and distributes content across genres with projects including Orphan Black (BBC A, CTV Sci-Fi Channel), Dear…(Apple TV+), Lip Sync Battle (Paramount Network), The Amazing Race Canada (CTV), MasterChef Canada (CTV), The Next Step (Family Channel, CBC), The Loud House (Nickelodeon), Remy & Boo (Universal Kids, CBC) and Dino Ranch (CBC, Disney Junior).

Its current production slate also features American Rust for Showtime and Beacon 23 for Spectrum/AMC.

Parent Boat Rocker Media owns or invests in entertainment companies that bolster strategic and operational goals including Insight Productions (unscripted), Jam Filled Entertainment (2D and 3D animation), Industrial Brothers (kids and family animation) and talent management company Untitled Entertainment.

Canadian entertainment company Boat Rocker Media continues to aggressively expand its Hollywood holdings with another acquisition. Boat Rocker has bought Platform One Media, the indie TV studio for premium scripted content launched two years ago by Tpg Growth, whose parent Tpg owns a majority stake in CAA, and John Malone’s Liberty Global.

Over the past year and a half, Boat Rocker Media has been expanding aggressively its global footprint with acquisitions of unscripted production company Matador Content, which is behind Paramount Network’s Lip Sync Battle, Fremantle’s Kids & Family division, taking a majority stake in Insight Productions, a leading Canadian unscripted production company, and making a significant financial investment in talent management/production company Untitled Entertainment.

Katie O’Connell Marsh, who launched Platform One in 2017 as CEO, has been named Founder and Chairman of Platform One and will...

Boat Rocker Media, home to Orphan Black and Killjoys, among other shows, has acquired a majority stake in television producer Insight Productions, which handles the annual Juno awards and has Amazing Race Canada and Big Brother Canada in its portfolio.

Terms were not disclosed. The deal is effective immediately and enables Insight to increase and diversify its content offerings while moving more aggressively into digital content, while adding to Boat Rocker’s continued growth in the Canadian market and around the world.

John Brunton, Insight’s founder, chairman and CEO, will continue to run all aspects of the company. The senior management team and showrunners remain in place, as does the entire Insight team. COO and president Barbara Bowlby is transitioning into retirement this year, but will remain a senior advisor and shareholder of the company.

Under the new structure, Insight will operate as an independent business unit, with Boat...

Orphan Black producer Boat Rocker Media has nabbed a majority stake in rival Canadian producer Insight Productions.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Insight's founder and CEO John Brunton will continue to lead the company under the Boat Rocker banner.

Insight and Second City Entertainment are co-producing an Sctv reunion comedy special for Netflix and CTV, to be directed by Martin Scorsese. Insight also produces local versions of global formats like The Amazing Race Canada, Big Brother Canada and Top Chef Canada.

The deal for Insight follows Boat Rocker selling a 51 percent stake in itself to Fairfax Financial, the ...

The most viewed Canadian television shows of 2016 feature a blend of reality television and drama, with a little comedy to spice things up. Related: ‘Big Brother Canada’ Announces Cross-Country Casting Tour Season four of “The Amazing Race Canada” led the ratings race, pulling a television rating of 1,860,000 average viewers. The simmering hot third season […]...

When CBS announced the "Big Brother 17" cast Tuesday, it seemed very much like the typical cast: lots of young, white people who look very much like the young, white people the show usually casts. But among the cast is someone who is breaking ground in network reality TV: Audrey Middleton, a transgender woman who's the first transgender person to be on a major big-four network reality show. The CW's "Top Model" did break ground by having a transgender woman, Isis King, on the cast twice, first in season 11 in 2008. (Also Tuesday, "The Amazing Race Canada" announced that a transgender man, Hamilton, will be racing with his fiance Michaelia during its third season.) The fact that "Big Brother" is the first to break this barrier is both amazing and terrifying. Of all the shows on television, "Big Brother" seemed the least likely to have taken this significant step. It's the one that panders most to stereotypes,...

It was a great night for Xavier Dolan at the Canadian Screen Awards today, where the wunderkind's latest film, "Mommy," won nine awards, nearly sweeping every category. The only fields the film lost in were crafts categories conceded the critically reviled (but it's Canadian!) "Pompeii," which took home five awards. Check out the full list of winners below, the nominees here and everything else you can possibly imagine (more or less) at The Circuit. Best Motion Picture "Mommy" Achievement in Direction Xavier Dolan, "Mommy" Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Antoine Olivier-Pilon, "Mommy" Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Anne Dorval, "Mommy" Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Suzanne Clément, "Mommy" Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role John Cusack, "Maps to the Stars" Adapted Screenplay "Elephant Song" Original Screenplay "Mommy" Achievement in Art Direction "Pompeii" Achievement in Cinematography "Mommy" Achievement in Costume...

Sci-fi fans in the U.S. may know her best as Lisa from V, Kara/Supergirl/Brainiac from Smallville, or Arla at the end of last season’s Haven (ooo that was creepy) but now we’ll get to know her as werewolf Elena Michaels, as Syfy today announced the acquisition of Canadian series Bitten, starring Laura Vandervoort:

September 17, 2013

Syfy Acquires New Original Werewolf Drama Series Bitten From Entertainment One

Bitten – Based On The Best-selling Novels By Kelley Armstrong – Will Premiere On Syfy In 2014

New York – September 17, 2013 – A new breed of werewolves is coming to Syfy with the acquisition of the first season of the new Canadian scripted series Bitten from leading independent studio Entertainment One (eOne).

Season 1 of Bitten, consisting of 13 one-hour episodes, will premiere on Syfy in 2014.

Based on the New York Times best-selling Women of the Otherworld novels by Kelley Armstrong, Bitten is an emotionally charged...