“House of the Dragon” (HBO Max photo)
May 2, 2023
Warner Bros. Discovery and Canada’s Bell Media May 2 announced a long-term and exclusive licensing agreement that makes Bell’s subsidiary Crave the home of programming from the studio for years to come.
The agreement also feeds CTV, CTV.ca, the CTV app, and Bell Media’s suite of specialty channels. The deal ranges across many parts of Warner Bros. Discovery’s portfolio, including HBO and Max Originals; the DC universe; the Wizarding World of Harry Potter; new cable series; library television series; pay and post-pay window rights for Warner Bros. films; and library films.
The deal also includes French-language rights for HBO and Max Originals, Pay 1 films, the “Friends” franchise, the “Harry Potter” collection of films, and other select content.
“[This is] a true landmark deal for the Canadian media industry,” Karine Moses, SVP, content development & news, and vice chair, Québec for Bell, said in a statement.
The distribution deal continues WBD CEO David Zaslav’s goal of expanding content distribution beyond streaming video.
“This new multi-year deal will ensure Canadians have full and easy access to our shows and movies and the new programming coming from HBO and Max,” said David Decker, president of content Sales at Warner Bros. Discovery.
New Max Original programming comes to Crave, expanding on the licensing agreement announced in 2019. This includes the recently announced Harry Potter series, and titles from the DC Universe, including the recently announced drama The Penguin, starring Colin Farrell.
Crave remains the exclusive Canadian home of new, current, and library HBO programming, including recently announced “Game of Thrones” prequel “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Night,” drama series “The Sympathizer,” “True Detective: Night Country,” and “The Regime,” and returning series, including “The Last of Us,” “House of the Dragon,” and “The White Lotus,” among others.
The deal includes Warner Bros. library series such as FRIENDS and THE BIG BANG THEORY for Crave, CTV.ca, and the CTV app.
Movies coming to Crave and CTV following their theatrical and home entertainment windows include The Flash, Dune: Part Two, Magic Mike’s Last Dance, and Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Library titles include The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Harry Potter collection, Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, Goodfellas, The Shining, The Departed, and Inception, among others.