Saskatchewan Communications Network (SCN), Saskatchewan’s provincial educational broadcaster, will sign off in May 2010.  The closure is mentioned in Saskatchewan’s 2010 provincial budget.  SCN signed on May 6, 1991, licensed by the CRTC as a non-commercial television network.

SCN’s dissolution is expected to save the Saskatchewan government around $5 million a year, and $2.4 million for the 2010-11 budget year.  SCN cites “poor viewership” as the reason for its closure.

SCN has backed shows like Rabbit Fall and Wapos Bay in the past, helping build a local film and television industry for Saskatchewan.  SCN accepts a few original comedy and/or drama projects per year (caution: PDF), as well as documentaries.

SCN is at least being forthright with its closure.  A public broadcaster in a sparsely populated province can’t compete against cable and the Internet.  At least SCN funds general-interest adult programming, something TVOntario doesn’t do beyond documentaries and The Agenda with Steve Paikin.  Even TFO has Météo+ and Francoeur.

The closest thing SCN has to educational television now is ACCESS, where The Listener and Desperate Housewives are part of Alberta’s university curricula.  ACCESS is a sad shell of what it once was.

This is hardly news to the KitH faithful, so I’ll only give the basic details.  Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town will air in America on IFC, which is rebranding itself as a more comedy-centric, “offbeat” network.

Death Comes to Town is part of the 2010-11 broadcast slate, which includes The Onion News Network and The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret.

IFC has previously aired The Jon Dore Television Show.  The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret is a British show with a Canadian costar.

I’m not bragging, by the way, about Canadians who have Made It in America^®.  I’m just stating that Americans will watch Canadian comedy if there’s a demand for it.  IFC’s not a bad home for Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town, although I expected Comedy Central or BBC America to blink first.  Nice one, IFC.

Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town will begin airing in August 2010.  Why late summer instead of the fall, I don’t know, but Death Comes to Town isn’t the main draw for IFC in 2010-11.  The Onion News Network is, with zombie horror-comedy Dead Set sliding under the radar.

The Whitest Kids U’Know, Z Rock and Greg the Bunny have built up IFC’s reputation for comedy.  It’ll be quite interesting to see what IFC mounts and/or picks up over the next few years.  If Pure Pwnage and/or Testees end up on IFC, I won’t be surprised.  I think IFC has discovered a new niche.

Spliced!, a Nelvana cartoon, makes its Canadian debut on Teletoon April 1, 2010.  The cartoon debuts 8:30 PM ET/PT, after five episodes of Johnny Test.  A repeat of the debut airs April 4 at 8:30 PM ET/PT.  Spliced! settles into a Thursday night 7:00 PM ET/PT time slot on April 8.

Spliced! is about a bunch of genetic recombinants stranded on a desert island, as they try to build a civilization from the ground up.  Characters include Entrée, a cow-pig-chicken-tuna-shrimp thing that walks on its udder.  There’s also a dolphin/chimp/Jack Russell terrier with three Internet degrees.  Yeah, it’s that kind of show.

Spliced! has already debuted on Jetix in Latin America, having first aired anywhere April 20, 2009.  Spliced!‘s brief run in the United States was on ION’s digital subchannel qubo, from September 19 to October 24, 2009.

Matt Ferguson directs this show.  He’s responsible for Harold Rosenbaum, Chartered Accountant Extreme, a fairly spot-on parody of limited-animation cartoons.  Viewers may remember Harold Rosenbaum from YTV’s Funpak (2005)…not that many people have watched Funpak.

Spliced! could very well outstrip every other Canadian show on Teletoon’s pre-watershed schedule, which isn’t hard when it’s flanking Johnny Test, Wayside and Stoked.  I’ll admit to liking Jimmy Two Shoes a bit (a bit), but I have a good feeling about Spliced!  Here’s a clip parodying The More You Know:

---

As mentioned by Etan Vlessing of Kidscreen, TVOntario has applied to the CRTC proposing a TVOKids+ channel.  TVOKids+ will more than duplicate its children’s programming block, expanding it to fit a 24-hour schedule.

The channel will not carry advertising, save for “sponsor messages” similar in nature to TVOntario.  TVOKids+ will fulfill the same educational mandate as TVOKids, which is aimed at children ten years (i.e., Grade 5) and younger.  The CRTC will hear TVO’s application on May 12, 2010.

I have to wonder where TVOntario is going with this.  TVO’s “Go Public” campaign essentially asks viewers to give the network more financial support.  TVO’s even using the “Viewers Like You” tag before its shows, which is the last thing it should be cribbing from PBS.

On the other hand, TVOKids is a major part of TVO’s broadcast schedule.  A spinoff actually makes sense, given TVO’s reputation for educational programming.  At least the channel has a stated purpose and goal.

Whether TVOKids+ can help TVO make money is another matter, but it’s not like TVO has that many assets to spin off.  What else can it launch?  A documentary channel?  24 hours of The Agenda with Steve Paikin reruns?  It’s probably better to focus on the Internet, since that’s where the real action will be in the future.

Dog City: The Movie, which originally aired as an hour-long 1989 episode of The Jim Henson Hour, will be released on Region 1 DVD on June 8, 2010.  Lionsgate Home Entertainment will release the disc, as part of its arrangement with The Jim Henson Company.

The “movie” is a film noir spoof with lots of bad puns, not all of them dog-related.  Main protagonist Ace Yu is looking for his uncle’s killer, Bugsy Them.  Yeah, it’s that kind of spoof.  Jim Henson won an Emmy for this episode, his first and last as a director.

Dog City: The Movie has been on DVD before, albeit in Region 2 form.  This will be Dog City‘s North American debut.

Both DVD versions of Dog City: The Movie retain appearances by Rowlf the Dog, even though The Walt Disney Company owns Rowlf.  Rowlf is a framing device, so he can’t be avoided.

Special features include a “behind-the-scenes photo gallery, original concept art, ‘and more!’”  It reads like the standard set of extras, not that I’m expecting much more from Lionsgate Home Entertainment.  At least Lionsgate is releasing Henson’s titles, no matter how esoteric they are.

This news is only tangentially related to Canadian television.  Dog City (1992-95), one of Nelvana’s better 1990s shows, is an indirect spinoff of the Dog City special.  I have pondered whether the Dog City series will see release.

As an aside, Amazon.com has the entirety of Dog City on video-on-demand.  There’s a fair swath of Henson-related product on demand.  Truth be known, I’m surprised Dog City has its entire run on VOD.  I don’t remember the show being that popular, but you know, nostalgia.

Dog City: The Movie could spark renewed interest in the Dog City cartoon.  We’re seeing The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley (!) on DVD – one episode, but come on.  If that show can waft to home video, Dog City‘s chances aren’t so bad.

As mentioned at Canadian Animation Resources, computer animation studio C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures has gone into receivership.  The studio was created by Bob Munroe, John Mariella, Kyle Menzies and William Shatner in 1994.

In its sixteen-year history, C.O.R.E. has rendered various special effects on films like Splice (2009), SUCK (2009), Silent Hill (2006), Cube (1997), Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004) and X-Men (2000.)  Television shows like Wonderfalls (2004) and The Tudors (2007- ) have also been touched by C.O.R.E.

C.O.R.E. has tried its hand at film and television production.  Among C.O.R.E.’s film production credits are Santitos (1999), The Wild (2006) and Firehouse Dog (2007.)  Television credits include Angela Anaconda (1999-2002), Iggy Arbuckle (2007) and CTV miniseries Would Be Kings (2008.)

As this story is only a few hours old by the time I post this, there’s no official word on why C.O.R.E. Digital has gone into receivership.  The current rumour is that financing from Royal Bank of Canada fell through, breaking C.O.R.E.’s poorly-managed back.  Employees were called into a meeting around 3:00 PM ET today, told to take their personal items and leave the C.O.R.E. building.

It boggles my mind how C.O.R.E.’s in such terrible financial shape.  Vincenzo Natali’s Splice will be given a summer 2010 release by Warner Bros.  SUCK debuted at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.  C.O.R.E. Toons’ Planet Sheen has yet to debut on Nickelodeon.  It’s not like the company’s irrelevant.

I hope C.O.R.E.’s receiver can keep the company afloat.  Not everything C.O.R.E. touches is great (Planet Sketch and Iggy Arbuckle? come on), but it’s a decent special effects house.  C.O.R.E. has come a long way from TekWar.

Addendum (March 17, 2010) | Not much in the way of new information, other than Canadian Animation Resources’ update on C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures’ financial problems.  As much as $2 million in debt?  How much was C.O.R.E. making/losing a year that $2 million was an insurmountable hurdle?

The Ontario Liberal government was going to help relieve C.O.R.E.’s debt load, but balked after due diligence.  I don’t normally post hearsay on URBMN, but something smells about this story.

C.O.R.E. shouldn’t have relied on government tax breaks to stay aloft, if that is how they remained in business.  I don’t see why the company couldn’t have merged with DHX Media, E1 Entertainment or Shaftesbury Films, unless its size (around 150 employees) was a deal-breaker.

DHX Media makes the most sense, aside from DHX Media having about 68 employees total.  There’s a history between DECODE Entertainment and C.O.R.E.  I don’t know.  It’s all speculation until a business move is made.