Shaw Media's Unrivaled Specialty Portfolio Steals the Show with its 2015/16 Programming Lineup

Powerhouse Lineup Includes 80 Hotly Anticipated New Series

Homegrown Heavyweights Bolster the Specialty Schedule with New Seasons of #1 Canadian Originals Vikings, Chopped Canada, and House of Bryan

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TORONTO, June 1, 2015 /CNW/ - Today Shaw Media announced its slate of new and returning hit shows anchoring the specialty channels' 2015/16 broadcast lineup. With more top 10 specialty networks than any other Canadian broadcaster, Shaw Media continues to dominate Specialty and shows no signs of slowing down with this new fall lineup in place. The broadcaster celebrates another stellar broadcast year with HISTORY® and Showcase taking the #1 and #2 spots, respectively, of all entertainment specialty channels in Canada. In addition to HISTORY and Showcase, the powerhouse portfolio is helmed by fan favourite brands including HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, and Slice™.

"Shaw Media continues to dominate the Canadian specialty television landscape, bolstered by our commitment to high-quality, homegrown talent and content," said Christine Shipton, SVP and Chief Creative Officer, Shaw Media. "Our series are consistently smashing records and with our 2015/16 slate of exciting new and record-breaking returning hit series, we're set to uphold our position as the number one provider of specialty entertainment in Canada."

As Canada's #1 specialty entertainment network, HISTORY continues to deliver viewers cutting-edge content delving into worlds of past and present, from scripted dramas to exploratory docu-series and specials. Vikings, Canada's #1 specialty entertainment program for the third consecutive year, returns for a riveting fourth season with new faces including Canadian actress Dianne Doan (Once Upon a Time) and first ever scenes shot on location in Canada. HISTORY also presents the Canadian premiere of Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar featuring renowned underwater archeologist and adventurer Barry Clifford, along with a team of on-land explorers and experts, attempting to solve a mystery that dates back hundreds of years. Also new is Klondike Trappers, a Canadian original production chronicling a subculture of modern day bushmen surviving off the land in the wilds of the Yukon and Alaska.  Other new series include Curse of the Frozen Gold, Battle Factory, Outlaw Chronicles: Hells Angels, Tree People, and Natural Born Outlaws. Additional new returning series include: Yukon Gold, Counting Cars, Pawn Stars, American Pickers, and Mountain Men.

Showcase, Canada's second most-watched entertainment specialty channel, next only to Shaw Media's HISTORY, celebrated its 20^th anniversary this year as a leading destination for premium drama. New to Showcase's fall schedule is Mr. Robot starring Christian Slater and Rami Malek. The series is a contemporary drama about a mysterious anarchist, Mr. Robot (played by Slater), who recruits Elliot (Malek), a young programmer suffering from a debilitating anti-social disorder, into an underground hacker group. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, the hugely buzzed about new comedy is coming to Showcase.  The series follows Rebecca (Rachel Bloom) a young woman who abandons her NYC lifestyle and law career in search of love. Outlander, the #1 specialty series for women and record-holder for Showcase's biggest premiere in 10 years** against women 25-54, returns with a hotly-anticipated second season, based on the second book in Diana Gabaldon's series. Two of the channel's record-setting Canadian originals, Lost Girl and Continuum air their final seasons this fall. Celebrating its fifth season, Haven, the hit Canadian/American co-production based on a Stephen King novella, returns with recurring guest star William Shatner. Coming later this season is the Canadian premiere of The Magicians based upon Lev Grossman's best-selling books. The Magicians stars Jason Ralph (A Most Violent Year, Aquarius) as Quentin Coldwater, a brilliant grad student who enrolls in Brakebills College, a secret upstate New York university specializing in magic. He and his 20-something friends soon discover that the magical fantasy world they read about as children is all too real – and poses grave danger to humanity. The series also stars Stella Maeve (Chicago P.D.), Hale Appleman (Teeth), Arjun Gupta (Nurse Jackie), and Summer Bishil (Towelhead, Lucky 7).

HGTV Canada kicks off the fall season with new and returning series premieres every night of the week in September. With lifestyle trends top of mind for HGTV, the network explores how to live large in 180 square feet with the brand new series Tiny House Big Living, a spin-off of the hugely popular Tiny House Hunters, also back with a new season. The hit Canadian original series Unusually Thicke moves to HGTV Canada with a second season titled Unusually Thicke: Under Construction, and this season sees Alan Thicke and his family undergoing some major home renovations. Plus, for the first time ever, HGTV Canada is bringing its esteemed hosts together to create an epic home, which one lucky HGTV viewer will win, in The House that HGTV Built. Hit shows returning to HGTV Canada with new seasons include House of Bryan, the #1 program ever on the network**, Fixer Upper, Flip or Flop, Ellen's Design Challenge, Leave it to Bryan, and Timber Kings.

This fall, Food Network Canada is heating up its schedule with a slew of new, Canadian original series including the new competition series, Chef in Your Ear. In each episode, two of the country's hottest chefs go head-to-head to see who can create the best restaurant-quality dish without stepping foot into the kitchen - coaching two kitchen rookies remotely via earpiece. Food Network gets families thinking competitively as well with The Incredible Food Race, a Canadian original series that in each episode sees two families compete in amazing food race challenges vying to win a year's worth of groceries courtesy of Walmart.  Also launching this fall is Food Network Canada's Great Canadian Cookbook, scheduled to make its digital debut of its interactive website where Canadians are invited to engage and contribute to the all-Canadian digital cookbook. The online platform is complemented by Food Network Canada's Great Canadian Cookbook broadcast special, featuring hosts Lynn Crawford and Noah Cappe traveling across Canada, cooking and collecting the best Canadian recipes. It's also a season of must-see stunt events including new series Camp Cutthroat and returning hits: Chopped Teen Tournament, Holiday Baking Championship, and Halloween Wars. This winter Chopped Canada, the channel's #1 series, returns with new faces, and a new twist – a Canadian Chopped teen tournament spin-off stunt event. 

Slice, also celebrating its 20^th anniversary on air this year, is set to debut the world broadcast premiere of First Dates, a Canadian original production documenting hopeful singles in their quest for love. Each episode features a restaurant filled with real people on real first dates.  The charm, awkwardness, drama and potential spark between daters is all captured on over thirty remote-controlled cameras. Slice also brings Canadians a new series from the fan-favourite Million Dollar Listing franchise highlighting some of the most expensive real estate in the world with Million Dollar Listing: San Francisco.  Additional fresh new formats and familiar faces include Work Out New York and NeNe and Kim.

MEDIA NOTE: Full information for all Shaw Media specialty channels and select broadcast dates available here http://bit.ly/1AJkr9M

Source: Numeris PPM Data, 1/5/2015-4/26/2015, Total Canada
**Numeris PPM Data, 8/30/2004 - 4/26/15

About Shaw Communications
Shaw Communications Inc. is a diversified communications and media company. Shaw serves 3.2 million consumers and businesses through a reliable and extensive fibre network. Shaw provides consumers with broadband Internet, WiFi, Digital Phone and Video services. Shaw Business provides businesses with Internet, data, WiFi, telephony, Video and fleet tracking services, and ViaWest provides collocation, cloud and managed services. Shaw Media provides Canadians with engaging programming content through one of Canada's largest conventional television networks, Global Television, and 19 specialty networks, including HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, HISTORY® and Showcase. Shaw is traded on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges and is included in the S&P/TSX 60 Index (Symbol: TSX – SJR.B, NYSE – SJR). For more information about Shaw, please visit www.shaw.ca.

SOURCE Shaw Media

For media inquiries, please contact: Michelle McTeague, Publicity Manager, Food Network Canada, Lifetime, Showcase, and Slice, Shaw Media, [phone], [email protected]; Cathy Kurzbock, Publicity Manager, HGTV, HISTORY, DTOUR, National Geographic Channel, and DIY Network, Shaw Media, [phone], [email protected]