Global Television Buys CBS’ ‘Elementary’ and NBC’s ‘Chicago Fire’ and ‘Guys With Kids’

TORONTO – Ahead of its Canadian Upfront presentation Wednesday, Shaw Media insists it sees no rear-guard threat from Rogers Media.

“I’m not one to not applaud the bravado of an upstart. That’s an admirable effort,” Barbara Williams, senior VP of content at Shaw Media, said a day after Rogers Media topper Keith Pelley boasted his Citytv network was stealing eyeballs from Global Television and CTV.

“When we look at top-ten and top-20 rankers in any of the demos, we are head and shoulders above anything they’ve been able to accomplish,” Williams said before unveiling her Fall and mid-season schedules to domestic advertisers in Toronto Wednesday afternoon.

Fresh from the Los Angeles Screenings, Global Television revealed a stand-pat schedule that Williams said builds on solid bench-strength from returning hit U.S. series.

“Well there’s no point in turning down a successful returning show,” she insisted, pointing to Global Television performers like Bones, Glee, Hawaii Five-0, The Good Wife, NCIS, NCIS: LA, The Office and Survivor.

With fewer holes to fill, Williams insists she made savvy chess moves in Los Angeles to keep Citytv at bay by acquiring for Thursday nights ABC’s Last Resort for at 8 p.m, and CBS’ Elementary at 10 p.m.

On Wednesdays, Global Television will follow Survivor at 8 p.m. with a couple new sitcoms – the Matthew Perry comedy Go On at 9 p.m., and NBC’s Guys with Kids at 9:30 p.m., followed by NBC’s Chicago Fire drama from Dick Wolf at 10 p.m.

And Friday nights, Global Television acquired the CBS legal drama Made In Jersey for the 9 p.m. slot,

Midseason buys include the Anne Heche comedy Save Me, and The Job, from reality masters Michael Davies and Mark Burnett.

“Strategically, we made some good steps forward, but we absolutely will continue to support our returning shows, because they’re hits,” Williams said of her upcoming Fall and mid-season campaigns.

She added Global Television will simulcast 14.5 hours of U.S. programming, more than on Citytv.

“We’re up on simulcast hours on where we were last year, and we’re at a higher number than Citytv has,” Williams said.

And she dismissed Pelley’s threat that Citytv will overtake Global Television in share when that network fills out its national footprint, as planned.

“We are a very broad-reaching network. We have a much, much bigger reach than Citytv does. In the national numbers game, we are far, far dominating Citytv in all of the western markets,” Williams argued.

Bell Media will unveil its Fall and mid-season schedule for CTV to domestic advertisers on Thursday.

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