Music Legend Nile Rodgers and Chart-Topper Bebe Rexha Join Celebrity Mentors and Producers for Season 2 of CTV’s THE LAUNCH

TORONTO (October 19, 2018) – With production underway on the second season of CTV’s hit original music series THE LAUNCH, the network announced today the final celebrity mentors confirmed to join the series this season. Musical legend and multiple Grammy Award^®-winning composer, producer, arranger, guitarist, and co-founder of CHIC, Nile Rodgers (Madonna, David Bowie, Diana Ross) joins as celebrity producer, along with chart-topping singer-songwriter Bebe Rexha in a celebrity mentor role. **Media Note** – Download photography and bios for THE LAUNCH’s Season 2 mentors and producers at BellMediaPR.ca. “Each week we are blown away by the calibre of talent the mentors and producers bring to the table, and Nile and Bebe will be no exception,” said Randy Lennox, President, Bell Media. “We cannot wait to get them into the studio with the emerging artists.” “There is not a cooler, more talented, and truly ageless producer/songwriter/musician than Nile, with five decades of hits, millions and millions of records sold, and a countless collection of awards…he’s as creative and driven as ever and will bring it all to the stage and studio of THE LAUNCH!” said Scott Borchetta, Founder/President/CEO of the Big Machine Label Group and co-creator and Executive Producer of THE LAUNCH. “As for Bebe, Big Machine is making history in real time with Bebe and our own Florida Georgia Line with their single, ‘Meant To Be’, which has smashed Billboard Magazine‘s all-time record for weeks at #1 on the Hot Country Songs chart with an amazing 46 weeks at the top…and counting. With this talented duo, we can only expect to add another #1 hit for one of our emerging artists.” The pair round out the this season’s previously announced celebrity mentors including Grammy^® award-winning music legend Bryan Adams – in the dual role as celebrity mentor and producer; celebrated multi-platinum award-winning singer-songwriter Jann Arden; Grammy^® award-winner Sarah McLachlan, Arkells’ Max Kerman, and recording superstar Ryan Tedder, the creative force behind Season 1 certified platinum hit single “Ain’t Easy” by Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine, who will also produce a new song in Season 2. Also confirmed to work with emerging artists aspiring for an opportunity to create a new hit single this season are some of the music industry’s most successful producers including Jon Levine (Avril Lavigne, Drake, Bebe Rexha); Alex Hope (Carly Rae Jepsen, Troye Sivan, Tove Lo); and Shaun Frank (The Chainsmokers, Steve Aoki, Dragonette). Also previously announced for Season 2 are Québec pop star Marie-Mai as a permanent mentor on the weekly celebrity panel alongside music industry powerhouse Scott Borchetta, while entertainment reporter Liz Trinnear (ETALK) joined the series in the new role of Host. Details about how to attend live tapings are available below. THE LAUNCH is currently available for customized brand partnership opportunities. Partners already confirmed for Season 2 include Walt Disney Studios, who is back for their second year along with Virgin Mobile Canada, and Eska water. Throughout production and post-production, innovative brand integrations with additional customized brand partnership opportunities continue to be available. As announced earlier this year, each super-sized episode of THE LAUNCH will now feature reduced commercial time, delivering even more music and extended insight into featured artists’ auditions, and the process of recording, performing, and launching a new hit song. Each hour-long episode provides custom advertising opportunities including 30-second “superpods.” Featuring one advertiser per break, the custom creative offers a more seamless and engaging viewer experience between the commercial content and the program. THE LAUNCH is set to premiere on CTV and VRAK in early 2019. THE LAUNCH Live Studio Audience! CTV is giving viewers in the Greater Toronto Area an opportunity to experience the excitement first-hand by attending a free taping of THE LAUNCH. The studio is located in downtown Toronto and those interested in tickets can go to CTV.ca/TheLaunch for more information. All audience members must be at least 11 years of age and an adult must accompany those under the age of 16. During production-to-date on Season 2 of THE LAUNCH, Season 1 alumni including Elijah Woods X Jamie Fine, The Static Shift, Vivian Hicks, Logan Staats, and Ethan Young have dropped by to connect with fans and meet new emerging artists. Upcoming tapings include:

Wednesday, Oct. 24:	Celebrity Mentor: Jann Arden Producer: Shaun Frank
Tuesday, Oct. 30: (Final Season 2 Taping)	Producer: Nile Rodgers Celebrity Mentor: Bebe Rexha

In each stand-alone episode of THE LAUNCH, unsigned aspiring artists audition for the opportunity to learn, record, and perform their version of a new original song by a world famous songwriter/producer. The artists are mentored by a panel of internationally renowned music industry legends alongside Scott Borchetta and Marie-Mai, who then decide which version of the song will be released across the country immediately following the broadcast of the episode each week. About THE LAUNCH Season 1

• The breakthrough inaugural season of THE LAUNCH garnered an exclusive worldwide distribution deal with Sony Pictures Television (SPT).
• In addition, the series delivered a series of consecutive #1 hit songs amassing more than 21 million streams internationally to date, including certified platinum “Ain’t Easy” by Season 1 pop/hip-hop duo Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine, who won the iHeartRadio MMVA for Best New Canadian Artist in August, and recently dropped their latest single “Better Off.”
• Season 1 chosen artists POESY (“Soldier of Love”), Logan Staats (“The Lucky Ones”), and The Static Shift’s (“Wide Awake”) singles also soared to #1 on iTunes Canada.
• Chosen artist Ethan Young’s “Giants” vaulted into the Top 5 iTunes pop chart upon release, while Jayd Ink’s “Codes” debuted at #7 on iTunes’ pop chart.
• Season 1 shortlisted aspiring artist Vivian Hicks was officially signed to a development deal with Big Machine Label Group in April 2018, with artist Zack Lane also optioned to a single deal.

About Nile Rodgers: Among music legends, Nile Rodgers is truly exceptional. He amplifies his legacy as a multiple Grammy^® award winning composer, producer, arranger, and guitarist by constantly traversing new musical terrain and successfully expanding the boundaries of popular music. As the co-founder of CHIC and the newly elected Chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Nile pioneered a musical language that generated chart-topping hits like “Le Freak,” (the biggest selling single in the history of Atlantic Records) and sparked the advent of hip-hop with “Good Times”. Nile Rodgers transcends all styles of music across every generation with a body of work that’s garnered him inductions into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2017) and the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2016). Most recently, he was appointed as the first ever Chief Creative Advisor for the legendary Abbey Road Studios to cap off a year that has included “festival best” performances at both Glastonbury and Coachella that resulted in the BBC nominating the band for the BBC Music Awards as “Best Live Performance Of 2017” and the LA Times stating “Nile Rodgers influence stretches all over Coachella, beaming the sound of a better future”. His work in the CHIC Organization and his productions for artists like David Bowie, Diana Ross, and Madonna have sold over 500 million albums and 75 million singles worldwide while his innovative, trendsetting collaborations with Daft Punk, Avicii, Sigala, Disclosure, and Sam Smith reflect the vanguard of contemporary music. Nile Rodgers and CHIC recently released their first new studio album in over 26 years to critical acclaim and a Top 10 position in the UK album charts. Nile Rodgers and CHIC will also join Cher on her Here We Go Again Tour, kicking off January 2019. About Bebe Rexha: Singer/songwriter Bebe Rexha has accumulated more than 11 million overall single sales, 3.35 billion total global streams, and a radio audience of more than 10 billion. Her latest single, “Meant To Be” with Florida Georgia Line, is currently topping the charts at #1 on Billboard Hot Country and has amassed over 949 million global streams to date. Bebe Rexha, whom Billboard calls “one of the most daring artists of 2017,” burst onto the scene in 2013 when she penned the song “Monster,” which became a worldwide hit for Eminem and Rihanna and went RIAA quadruple-Platinum stateside. Since then, Bebe Rexha co-wrote and carried the instantly recognizable hook for the double-platinum “Hey Mama,” by David Guetta, Nicki Minaj, and Afrojack, which has over 1 billion YouTube™/VEVO views and was nominated for a Billboard Music Award for Top Dance/Electronic Song. She also hit #1 both on the Billboard Pop and Rap charts with her Platinum-selling smash single, “Me, Myself & I” with G-Eazy. Her last single, “I Got You” has more than 335 million YouTube™/VEVO views, “No Broken Hearts,” featuring Nicki Minaj, has more than 236 million YouTube™/VEVO views; and she is featured on Martin Garrix’s single, “In The Name of Love,” which has amassed more than 304 million YouTube™/VEVO views. Bebe Rexha released her second EP, “All Your Fault: Part 1,” and the follow-up, “All Your Fault: Part 2,” last year to rave reviews. THE LAUNCH format was put into development in January 2016 and was co-developed by Randy Lennox and Bell Media in association with Scott Borchetta of Big Machine Label Group, and Paul Franklin of Eureka (MASTERCHEF, THE BIGGEST LOSER), in partnership with John Brunton and Lindsay Cox of Insight Productions (THE AMAZING RACE CANADA, CANADIAN IDOL, THE JUNO AWARDS). THE LAUNCH is executive produced by Randy Lennox, Scott Borchetta, and John Brunton; Lindsay Cox and Paul Franklin are Executive Producers; Executive Producers for Bell Media are Robin Johnston and Corrie Coe, who is also Senior Vice-President, Original Programming, Bell Media. Pat DiVittorio is Vice-President, CTV and Specialty Programming, Mike Cosentino is President, Content and Programming, Bell Media. Randy Lennox is President, Bell Media.