TORONTO — A movie-of-the-week about the life of Conrad Black could be on the CTV schedule as early as 2005, says a network spokesman.

CTV confirms it signed a deal last week to make a movie or miniseries on the life of the embattled Canadian-born press baron, based on the biography Shades of Black: Conrad Black and the World's Fastest Growing Press Empire, by Richard Siklos.

But the network says it's too early to talk about casting, despite published reports that Albert Finney would be perfect in the part, with Wendy Crewson possibly playing Black's wife Barbara Amiel.

"I can't imagine they are that far down the road that they're casting," says CTV spokesman Mike Cosentino. "They won't even look at casting until they get the money, until we order it."

The Black movie project, to be produced by Toronto's Tapestry Pictures, was not included in a list of 10 titles CTV submitted recently to the Canadian Television Fund for financing next year.

When asked about real-life Hollywood power couple Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones for the lead roles, Cosentino laughed: "Yeah, that would be interesting. We'll take them!"

It's likely the project won't be ready for broadcast until at least the 2005-2006 season.

The Chicago Sun-Times, one of the papers that Black has up for sale, says that Siklos, 38, is working on an updated version of his 1995 book for fall release.

He's apparently adding 100 pages of new material, including the allegations that Black took millions of dollars in unauthorized payments from Hollinger International, the company he founded.