Edmonton Journal

CBS plans major TV production centre in Ontario

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“America’s Most LOS ANGELES Watched Network’’ is opening up shop in Canada.

CBS Corp. leased 260,000 square feet in Mississaug­a, Ont., to serve as its base in a burgeoning hub of film and TV production. The space, including six sound stages, offices and support facilities, is the largest studio opened by a U.S. broadcaste­r north of the border.

Though primarily known as a broadcast network, CBS is expanding into Canada to support its growing output of shows, including NCIS and Madam Secretary for CBS, Crazy Ex- Girlfriend for the CW and American Vandal for Netflix. CBS Television Studios is producing 63 shows in all.

The company ranks as one of the world’s biggest producers of TV programmin­g at a time when demand for new shows has never been higher. The U.S. TV industry will crank out more than 500 original scripted series this year, according to research from FX.

CBS already shoots a handful of production­s in Canada, including Star Trek: Discovery, the latest instalment of the popular sciencefic­tion franchise. The new studio is expected to open in mid-2019.

“CBS has a strong production history in Canada,” said David Stapf, president of CBS Television Studios. “The Toronto area specifical­ly has provided our series with diverse and appealing locations, as well as production infrastruc­ture and crafts expertise that cannot be easily found. These new stages will provide valuable resources and additional capacity for our company’s growing production slate.”

Studio space in Toronto, totalling about 2.2 million square feet, is stretched, according to real estate research firm Altus Group Ltd.

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