Powerhouse Lineup Includes 80 Hotly Anticipated
New Series
Homegrown Heavyweights Bolster the Specialty
Schedule with New Seasons of #1 Canadian Originals Vikings,
Chopped Canada, and
House of Bryan
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TORONTO, June 1, 2015 /CNW/ - Today Shaw Media
announced its slate of new and returning hit shows anchoring the
specialty channels' 2015/16 broadcast lineup. With more
top 10 specialty networks than any other Canadian broadcaster,
Shaw Media continues to dominate Specialty and shows no signs
of slowing down with this new fall lineup in place. The broadcaster
celebrates another stellar broadcast year with HISTORY® and
Showcase taking the #1 and #2 spots,
respectively, of all entertainment specialty channels in
Canada. In addition to HISTORY and
Showcase, the powerhouse portfolio is helmed by fan favourite
brands including HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada,
and Slice™.
"Shaw Media continues to dominate the Canadian specialty
television landscape, bolstered by our commitment to high-quality,
homegrown talent and content," said Christine Shipton, SVP and Chief Creative
Officer, Shaw Media. "Our series are consistently smashing
records and with our 2015/16 slate of exciting new and
record-breaking returning hit series, we're set to uphold our
position as the number one provider of specialty entertainment in
Canada."
As Canada's #1 specialty
entertainment network, HISTORY continues to deliver
viewers cutting-edge content delving into worlds of past and
present, from scripted dramas to exploratory docu-series and
specials. Vikings, Canada's #1 specialty entertainment program
for the third consecutive year, returns for a riveting fourth
season with new faces including Canadian actress Dianne Doan (Once Upon a Time) and first
ever scenes shot on location in Canada. HISTORY also presents the Canadian
premiere of Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar
featuring renowned underwater archeologist and adventurer
Barry Clifford, along with a team of
on-land explorers and experts, attempting to solve a mystery that
dates back hundreds of years. Also new is Klondike
Trappers, a Canadian original production chronicling a
subculture of modern day bushmen surviving off the land in the
wilds of the Yukon and
Alaska. Other new series
include Curse of the Frozen Gold, Battle
Factory, Outlaw Chronicles: Hells Angels,
Tree People, and Natural Born Outlaws.
Additional new returning series include: Yukon Gold,
Counting Cars, Pawn Stars,
American Pickers, and Mountain Men.
Showcase, Canada's
second most-watched entertainment specialty channel, next only
to Shaw Media's HISTORY, celebrated its 20th anniversary
this year as a leading destination for premium drama. New to
Showcase's fall schedule is Mr. Robot starring
Christian Slater and Rami Malek. The series is a contemporary drama
about a mysterious anarchist, Mr. Robot (played by Slater), who
recruits Elliot (Malek), a young
programmer suffering from a debilitating anti-social disorder, into
an underground hacker group. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, the
hugely buzzed about new comedy is coming to Showcase. The
series follows Rebecca (Rachel
Bloom) a young woman who abandons her NYC lifestyle and law
career in search of love. Outlander, the #1
specialty series for women and record-holder for Showcase's
biggest premiere in 10 years** against women 25-54, returns
with a hotly-anticipated second season, based on the second book in
Diana Gabaldon's series. Two of the
channel's record-setting Canadian originals, Lost
Girl and Continuum air their final seasons
this fall. Celebrating its fifth season, Haven, the
hit Canadian/American co-production based on a Stephen King novella, returns with recurring
guest star William Shatner. Coming
later this season is the Canadian premiere of The
Magicians based upon Lev
Grossman's best-selling books. The
Magicians stars Jason
Ralph (A Most Violent Year, Aquarius) as Quentin Coldwater, a brilliant grad student who
enrolls in Brakebills College, a secret upstate New York university specializing in magic. He and
his 20-something friends soon discover that the magical fantasy
world they read about as children is all too real – and poses grave
danger to humanity. The series also stars Stella Maeve (Chicago P.D.), Hale Appleman (Teeth), Arjun Gupta (Nurse Jackie), and Summer
Bishil (Towelhead, Lucky 7).
HGTV Canada kicks off the fall season with new and
returning series premieres every night of the week in September.
With lifestyle trends top of mind for HGTV, the network explores
how to live large in 180 square feet with the brand new series
Tiny House Big Living,
a spin-off of the hugely popular Tiny House Hunters,
also back with a new season. The hit Canadian original series
Unusually Thicke moves to HGTV Canada with a second
season titled Unusually Thicke: Under
Construction, and this season sees Alan Thicke and his family undergoing some major
home renovations. Plus, for the first time ever, HGTV Canada is
bringing its esteemed hosts together to create an epic home, which
one lucky HGTV viewer will win, in The House that HGTV
Built. Hit shows returning to HGTV Canada with new seasons
include House of Bryan, the #1 program ever on the
network**, Fixer Upper, Flip or Flop,
Ellen's Design Challenge, Leave it to
Bryan, and Timber Kings.
This fall, Food Network Canada is heating up its schedule
with a slew of new, Canadian original series including the new
competition series, Chef in Your Ear. In each
episode, two of the country's hottest chefs go head-to-head to see
who can create the best restaurant-quality dish without stepping
foot into the kitchen - coaching two kitchen rookies remotely via
earpiece. Food Network gets families thinking competitively as well
with The Incredible Food Race, a Canadian original
series that in each episode sees two families compete in amazing
food race challenges vying to win a year's worth of groceries
courtesy of Walmart. Also launching this fall is Food
Network Canada's Great Canadian Cookbook,
scheduled to make its digital debut of its interactive website
where Canadians are invited to engage and contribute to the
all-Canadian digital cookbook. The online platform is complemented
by Food Network Canada's Great Canadian
Cookbook broadcast special, featuring hosts Lynn Crawford and Noah
Cappe traveling across Canada, cooking and collecting the best
Canadian recipes. It's also a season of must-see stunt events
including new series Camp Cutthroat and returning
hits: Chopped Teen Tournament,
Holiday Baking Championship, and Halloween Wars. This winter Chopped
Canada, the channel's
#1 series, returns with new faces, and a new twist – a
Canadian Chopped teen tournament spin-off stunt event.
Slice, also celebrating its 20th anniversary
on air this year, is set to debut the world broadcast premiere of
First Dates, a Canadian original production
documenting hopeful singles in their quest for love. Each episode
features a restaurant filled with real people on real first dates.
The charm, awkwardness, drama and potential spark between
daters is all captured on over thirty remote-controlled cameras.
Slice also brings Canadians a new series from the fan-favourite
Million Dollar Listing franchise highlighting some of
the most expensive real estate in the world with Million
Dollar Listing: San
Francisco. Additional fresh new formats and
familiar faces include Work Out New York and
NeNe and Kim.
MEDIA NOTE: Full information for all Shaw Media specialty
channels and select broadcast dates available here
http://bit.ly/1AJkr9M
Source: Numeris PPM Data, 1/5/2015-4/26/2015, Total Canada
**Numeris PPM Data, 8/30/2004 -
4/26/15
About Shaw Communications
Shaw Communications Inc. is
a diversified communications and media company. Shaw serves 3.2
million consumers and businesses through a reliable and extensive
fibre network. Shaw provides consumers with broadband Internet,
WiFi, Digital Phone and Video services. Shaw Business provides
businesses with Internet, data, WiFi, telephony, Video and fleet
tracking services, and ViaWest provides collocation, cloud and
managed services. Shaw Media provides Canadians with engaging
programming content through one of Canada's largest conventional television
networks, Global Television, and 19 specialty networks, including
HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, HISTORY® and Showcase. Shaw is
traded on the Toronto and
New York stock exchanges and is
included in the S&P/TSX 60 Index (Symbol: TSX – SJR.B, NYSE –
SJR). For more information about Shaw, please visit
www.shaw.ca.
SOURCE Shaw Media