Bell Media seals deal to become sole distributor of HBO in Canada

In a major shakeup of the Canadian pay TV business, Bell Media on Thursday unveiled a new long-term licensing deal with HBO that makes the broadcaster the new exclusive home of series like Game of Thrones and True Detective into the next decade.

The new agreement “marks the first time HBO has granted exclusive subscription video on demand (SVOD) rights for first-run programming throughout Canada”, Bell said in a press release, using the industry term for streaming sites such as CraveTV, Shomi or Netflix.

Bell and HBO announced a deal today that will see Bell Media become the sole licensee of HBO content in Canada.

Bell’s rival Corus Entertainment will stepping back from the pay TV movies business, transferring over its HBO content licensing rights as the deal kicks in.

Several projects have already been lined up for development with prodcos Inverted Pictures/Artists Studio, Rhombus Media and Entertainment One-owned Force Four Entertainment attached to them. “Together, we secured a deal that will allow both our businesses to continue to grow and evolve”, Charles Schreger, president, programming sales at HBO, said Thursday in a statement.

Now Bell Media will be able to exploit that Showtime deal nationally once it extends The Movie Network to western Canada. “The Canadian audience will have access to HBO programming in more ways than ever before”.

“The level of talent in Canada is extraordinary and we are excited about the opportunity to tap into this creative community”, commented Michael Lombardo, the president of programming at HBO.

We believe that such positive developments will give a significant boost to Bell Media and result in higher revenues for the segment. The deal may also mean that Bell can offer HBO’s new TV shows to subscribers of CraveTV streaming service.

The news comes a year after Bell furthered its partnership with HBO by acquiring the exclusive national multiplatform rights to the entire off-air library of HBO programming, now offered on CraveTV.

Bell Media, a division of Canada’s leading communication service provider – BCE Inc. Bell Media is also Canada’s largest radio broadcaster, with 106 licensed radio stations in 54 markets across Canada.

As part of the changes, BCE Inc. will expand The Movie Network across the country before the end of March.

Those networks will continue to operate until Bell’s pay service The Movie Network launches in the region in the first quarter of 2016, at which time Corus’s western Canada pay subscribers will be automatically moved across. For more on Bell Media, please visit www.bellmedia.ca. Since then, the TV show has attracted many viewers.