Big streamers challenging financial disclosure rules in CRTC Cancon decision

OTTAWA - Large foreign streaming companies are fighting a requirement by the federal broadcast regulator to disclose financial information — part of the CRTC's modernization of its definition of Canadian content.

A group of streamers, including Netflix and Amazon, filed the challenge in the Federal Court of Appeal in December.

The new disclosure requirements would see the regulator publish information about each large streamer’s broadcasting revenues and their spending on Canadian content.

In the court application filed by the Motion Picture Association—Canada, the companies say the new rule doesn’t give them a chance to argue the information should be treated confidentially.

Series continues to mine later-life feminine reality for laughs, insight

The Judy Blumes of menopause are back.

Small Achievable Goals, the workplace comedy about menopause from creators, executive producers, writers and stars Jennifer Whalen and Meredith MacNeill (Baroness Von Sketch Show), returns to CBC tonight for a second season of boundary-pushing TV.

“It’s kind of like we’re always in labour,” Whalen jokes.

Season 1, which premièred last winter, put Whalen and MacNeill firmly in the menopause cultural zeitgeist. Here, finally, was a frank and funny coming-of-middle-age comedy, with relatable characters played by women roughly the same age — Whalen is 55, MacNeill is 50 — who weren’t making hackneyed open-freezer hot-flash jokes or wallpapering over reality with euphemisms.

Animal Nation includes rural and Indigenous people in its portraits of Prairie and northern animals

At first glance, Winnipeg-born producer Jesse Bochner’s seven-part series Animal Nation brings to mind docu-series such as Wild America, Planet Earth and Nature.

Laughing — and screening — all the way to 2026

There is abundant comedy available to ease into the formal new year and abundant new and returning television in the month to follow to keep your various screens crackling. Press Play now.

Top TV titles in 2025 kept us glued to our screens

Whether you like mind-bending sci-fi, high-stakes medical drama, thoughtful animation or deeply horny hockey romance, television in 2025 had something for all tastes. The Free Press arts team weighs in with their favourites from a variety of streaming services.

CBS News says Global ‘mistakenly’ posted ’60 Minutes’ segment, issues takedown order

CBS News says it's issuing takedown orders for a shelved "60 Minutes" segment after it was posted on Global TV's app on Monday and then spread online.

A representative for the network says its Canadian broadcast partner had "mistakenly published" the segment, dubbed "Inside CECOT," after CBS News decided to delay it for a future broadcast.

Though Global has since removed the episode, the segment has been shared widely on social media.

CBS News says its parent company Paramount is in the process of issuing takedown orders to accounts that have shared the footage.

No distributor? No problem. Canadian filmmakers are reaching audiences on their own terms

When Sasha Leigh Henry’s acclaimed TV show was canceled and development pipelines slowed to a crawl, she decided not to wait years for permission to reach audiences again.

Instead, she made her feature debut “Dinner With Friends” on a $100,000 micro-budget, and is now releasing it herself.

The Toronto filmmaker decided to act last year when Bell Media canceled her Crave series "Bria Mack Gets a Life" after one season, citing low audience numbers despite winning the Canadian Screen Award for best TV comedy, and after being denied Telefilm Talent to Watch funding.

"Nothing makes you say ‘eff it’ like your award-winning show not getting renewed," says Henry. She shot the film — an intimate look at the bonds and fractures within a Black friend group — in just nine days.

Ukraine’s own ‘Dancing with the Stars’ is back on for a special episode with wartime heroes

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Before the war, Ukraine’s own “Dancing with the Stars” was a cherished and popular television show, dazzling the audiences with performances by celebrities and professional dancers.

The show is now back on for one special episode — this time with Ukrainian wartime heroes as the stars, underscoring the nation's resilience in difficult times.

Many still remember how President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — then an actor — won the dance competition in 2006, the year that “Tantsi z zirkamy” as the show is known in Ukrainian, first debuted.

In the new, special episode, the dancers perform with prosthetic limbs, showcasing their strength in overcoming adversity. The lineup of participants includes public figures who rose to prominence since Russia's full-out war on Ukraine was launched in February 2022.

Alberta chocolatier brings Canadian magic to Harry Potter baking show

An Alberta chocolatier brought a distinctly Canadian flavour to the baking show "Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking," a magical experience she says taught her to think bigger.

Priya Winsor of St. Albert, Alta., a finalist on the show and the owner of Compass Chocolates, said the show pushed her well beyond her comfort zone, particularly when it came to constructing large-scale edible showpieces.

"It really gave me an opportunity to stretch my muscles and try something different—something bigger than what I thought I could do," Winsor said.

The Newfoundland-born chocolate maker grew up reading the Harry Potter books and watching the movies, so filming the Food Network show on the original movie sets in the U.K. felt surreal.

Pulled ’60 Minutes’ segment surfaces on web with Canadian broadcaster’s branding

A segment of the American news program "60 Minutes," pulled by CBS News prior to its U.S. airing, began circulating online Monday with the branding of Canadian broadcaster Global TV.

Multiple media reports say the program was uploaded to StackTV, Global's streaming platform, though it was not available to watch as of late Monday.

Global TV and its parent company, Corus Entertainment, did not immediately respond to calls and emails requesting comment.

CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has said it was her decision to pull from Sunday's broadcast the segment featuring deportees who faced egregious torture at a notorious prison in El Salvador.

’60 Minutes’ pulls story about Trump deportations from its lineup

An internal CBS News battle over a “60 Minutes” story critical of the Trump administration has exploded publicly, with a correspondent charging it was kept off the air for political reasons and news chief Bari Weiss saying Monday the story did not “advance the ball.”

Two hours before airtime Sunday, CBS announced that the story where correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi spoke to deportees who had been sent to El Salvador's notorious CECOT prison, would not be a part of the show. Weiss, the Free Press founder named CBS News editor-in-chief in October, said it was her decision.

The dispute puts one of journalism's most respected brands — and a frequent target of President Donald Trump — back in the spotlight and amplifies questions about whether Weiss' appointment was a signal that CBS News was headed in a more Trump-friendly direction.

Alfonsi, in an email sent to fellow “60 Minutes” correspondents said the story was factually correct and had been cleared by CBS lawyers and its standards division. But the Trump administration had refused to comment for the story, and Weiss wanted a greater effort made to get their point of view.

Communication regulator considers changes to extend reach of national alerting system

OTTAWA - Rural municipalities, Indigenous organizations and civil society groups are calling for changes to ensure people in remote parts of Canada receive emergency alerts during a crisis.

The suggestions to the federal communication regulator are aimed at closing gaps in the National Public Alerting System — more commonly known as Alert Ready — which delivers urgent messages about everything from missing children to tornadoes.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requires cellphone service providers, cable and satellite television companies and radio and television broadcasters to send out emergency alerts.

The CRTC solicited comments from interested parties on aspects of the system, including wireless public alerting gaps across Canada, distribution of alerts in English and French and the possible addition of Indigenous and other languages.

Faceless, nameless no more

For a long time, she was nameless, known only as “the Ottawa woman.” In courtroom sketches, she was faceless, a vacant mask framed by blond hair.

But now, Jessica Baker, the woman who was violently raped by former Hedley frontman and Canadian Idol contestant Jacob Hoggard in 2016, is sharing — and reclaiming — her identity in Breaking Idol, a powerful new CBC documentary from Emmy-nominated writer and director Tiffany Hsiung.

Produced by Winnipeg’s Frantic Films, Breaking Idol, which premièred on The Passionate Eye last month, takes a survivor-centred approach to the story of one of Canada’s most high-profile sexual assault cases. In June 2022, Hoggard was found guilty of sexual assault causing bodily harm against Baker and sentenced to five years in prison. Last year, his appeal was dismissed.

Hsiung, who is based in Toronto, suspects she was invited by CBC and Frantic Films to direct this project on the strength of her 2016 documentary The Apology, which follows the stories of three surviving “comfort women” who were among 200,000 others kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second World War. The Apology won a Peabody Award in 2019.

Escapist viewing for a stressful time of year

In the middle of the best-of-the year roundup season, here is a list of simple escapist viewing.

Steamy Canadian hockey series ‘Heated Rivalry’ scores second season at Crave

TORONTO - Canada's hot new hockey romance has scored a second season renewal.

Bell Media says its breakout hit "Heated Rivalry," about two male hockey players in a secret love affair, will return to Crave and its U.S. streaming service partner, HBO Max, for more episodes.

The LGBTQ+ series from writer-director Jacob Tierney has exploded in popularity over the past few weeks, thanks to clips of its spicier moments shared widely on TikTok and other social media platforms.

Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie star as rival NHL hotshots Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, who fall into a years-long relationship outside of the rink.