Canada’s CBC Sets Prime-Time Schedule

TORONTO: Among the highlights of CBC’s 2013-14 lineup is the return of Battle of the Blades alongside the new crime drama Crossing Lines.

CBC/Radio Canada is going to be serving as the Canadian home to the Olympic Games action from Sochi in 2014. Canadian athletes will be put center stage in a number of stories, features, profiles and performance coverage, spanning TV, radio, online and mobile.

CBC Television is bringing back Battle of the Blades for a fourth season on Sunday nights this fall. The show pairs professional figure skaters with hockey players in a competition for charity.

Launching in winter 2014 on CBC is The Best Laid Plans, based on Terry Fallis’s award-winning novel of the same name. For the fall, the network has schedule Crossing Lines, a crime drama about a police unit that specializes in cross-border crimes. Four Rooms is a reality show for the winter schedule that sees four leading art buyers competing for the prized possessions of Canadians. Recipe to Riches is part of the 2014 winter roster. The competition-style reality show will feature amateur Canadian cooks creating and sharing their personal recipes. In the weeks leading up to the finale, the Canadian public will have the chance to vote for their favorite.

This fall sees the launch of Still Life, a TV movie about a supposedly tranquil village in Quebec’s Eastern Townships that is thrown into upheaval when a member of the community is found dead in the woods. CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada is back for its 61st season with a full schedule of games.

There are a number of returning series for prime time as well, including Arctic Air, Dragons’ Den and Murdoch Mysteries, among others.

"2013-14 is an exciting time for CBC, and we’re proud to move into the new season with strong content that Canadians truly care about," said Neil McEneaney, the interim executive VP of English services at CBC. "As the official broadcaster of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, Hockey Night in Canada, and a lineup full of new and returning prime-time programs, CBC is the home of the hits this season."