ION Television announced today it is renewing its original police drama Flashpoint for a fifth season. The network is picking up 13 more episodes, set to begin shooting in February 2012. The announcement was made today by Brandon Burgess, CEO, ION Media Networks.

Flashpoint joined ION's primetime schedule in October 2011 after the network acquired all episodes from seasons 1-3 along with 11 Season 4 original episodes. The production of Season 5 contributes to ION Television's original programming goals for 2012 and beyond. Since its debut on ION, Flashpoint recorded its highest-telecast ever among the network's key demos on December 27, including households (1.5 million), A25-54 (869,000), W25-54 (566,000) and among total viewers (2.1 million).

"Flashpoint's solid performance season-to-date shows that a growing number of fans enjoy the series on ION Television," says Burgess. "We welcome back this exciting dramatic series and its cast to ION Television for another season in 2012."

"We're thrilled to be continuing our relationship with ION," says Anne Marie La Traverse and Bill Mustos, executive producers of Flashpoint. "We are delighted with how Flashpoint continues to resonate with fans in the U.S. and we look forward to creating another season of compelling and engaging episodes for them to enjoy."

Flashpoint, a nail-biting cop drama, is an emotional journey into the tough, risk-filled lives of a group of police in the Strategic Response Unit. Members of a highly-skilled tactical team, they're trained in negotiating, profiling and getting inside the subject's head to understand the emotional breaking point (the "flashpoint") that triggered the crisis. The series stars an impressive list of talent, including Hugh Dillon as Ed Lane, team leader and lead sniper; Enrico Colantoni as Gregory Parker, team sergeant and head negotiator; Amy Jo Johnson as Julianna "Jules" Callaghan, profiler and secondary negotiator; David Paetkau as Sam Braddock, the young, hot-shot sniper; Sergio Di Zio as Mike "Spike" Scarlatti, bomb tech and communications; and Clé Bennett as Rafik "Raf" Rousseau, Team One's newest diamond-in-the-rough recruit.

Flashpoint is produced by Pink Sky Entertainment and Avamar Entertainment in association with CTV and ION Television. Anne Marie La Traverse and Bill Mustos serve as executive producers, and co-creators Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern helm the writing department. David Frazee is the Series Consultant.