Bell Media, Corus Score HBO Library

TORONTO: Bell Media and Corus Entertainment have entered into a multiyear, multiplatform agreement with HBO for the entire past-season library of the U.S. premium channel's current scripted series.

HBO Canada subscribers are gaining access to catch up on past seasons via on-demand and video-streaming services. This includes past seasons of Game of Thrones, Girls, Boardwalk Empire and True Detective. These offerings will immediately become available to subscribers of The Movie Network and Movie Central at no additional charge. The deal includes the rights to more than 700 episodes from past seasons of current programs, in addition to the 300-plus episodes of HBO series that are already available.  

In eastern Canada, episodes will be available on TMN GO and HBO Canada OnDemand. In western Canada, episodes will be available on the go with Shaw Go Movie Central app, Bell TV app, Telus Optik on the go, and HBO Canada On Demand. Subscribers will also get an expanded offering in time for new seasons of HBO series The Comeback, Getting On and The Newsroom premiering later this fall.

"We are proud of the array of quality programming produced by HBO and it is wonderful to see Bell Media and Corus Entertainment have such appreciation for this catalogue," said Charles Schreger, the president of programming sales at HBO. "It is great to have this robust library made available to subscribers of HBO Canada, further enriching the offering."

"With this deal, our premium subscribers will be able to enjoy all of their favorite HBO programs, significantly increasing the value of a subscription to The Movie Network," said Kevin Crull, the president of Bell Media. "Now we can offer even more of what our subscribers want, which is all of HBO's incredible programming across multiple platforms, including the industry-leading TMN GO."

"This deal reinforces our commitment to providing our customers with a great value proposition," added John Cassaday, the president and CEO of Corus Entertainment. "Securing prior seasons of HBO's hit programs enables our subscribers to view past episodes of current series that they might not have seen from the very first season and positions HBO Canada as the place to see the most talked about series from start to finish."