Bell to bring Starz to Canada

Bell Media Brings Starz to Canada - Bell Media

Bell Media, Canada’s leading content company, today joined with global content leader Lionsgate and Lionsgate’s Starz premium pay television platform to announce an exclusive, long-term alliance to bring Starz to Canada and distribute the first pay window of Lionsgate’s future theatrical releases in the territory.

The multifaceted agreement is a ground-breaking move by Starz and Bell Media to compete for premium subscribers on all platforms, and dramatically increases the value of Bell Media’s suite of premium subscription services, including pay television network The Movie Network Encore (TMN Encore), which Starz and Bell Media will rebrand next year.

The collaboration marks the first international launch of Starz since Lionsgate acquired the network in December 2016 as well as the first time it will be available in Canada. Starz content will be introduced across Bell Media platforms, including TMN Encore and Canada’s premium streaming service CraveTV.

TMN Encore will be rebranded in early 2019, with a slate of premium Starz programming and a broad selection of Lionsgate hit films and television series facilitating its transformation into a world-class platform. The newly branded service will also be available on a direct-to-consumer basis.

Starz, one of the most highly viewed premium pay television platforms in the U.S., features over 7,000 feature film and television titles and an original programming roster led by hits such as POWER and GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE and highly anticipated upcoming series including VIDA and SWEETBITTER.

“We’re delighted to bring Starz to Canada as part of our international channel rollout,” said Starz President and CEO Chris Albrecht. “Bell Media is one of North America’s elite content companies, and they bring great brand recognition, a massive consumer base, and unparalleled distribution skills to our alliance. This agreement creates the perfect foundation for the growth of Starz in the territory.”

“Bell Media is thrilled to be on board as Starz’s first international partner,” said Randy Lennox, President, Bell Media. “Starz is making waves with bold, fresh content that’s resonating with audiences around the world. We’re delighted to introduce this premium brand to Canadians as well as partner with Lionsgate on the distribution of their film properties going forward.”

Bell Media’s collaboration with Lionsgate also encompasses future exclusive first-window access to the studio’s slate of hit Hollywood movies. All Lionsgate films will also be available to subscribers of Bell Media’s French-language Pay TV service, Super Écran.

“Bell Media is the ideal partner to introduce Starz to Canadian audiences,” said Lionsgate President of Worldwide Television & Digital Distribution Jim Packer. “The Canadian marketplace offers tremendous opportunities for growth, and this multifaceted agreement enables us to deliver the robust slate of Starz premium programming as well as the future first pay television window for Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment films to Bell Media platforms.”

“Starz series and Lionsgate films add hundreds of hours of premium content every year to our already-rich offering,” said Tracey Pearce, President, Distribution and Pay, Bell Media. “We can’t wait to introduce the evolution of TMN Encore as it transforms into a newly-rebranded premier pay TV platform.”

It sounds like this will be a full service channel, like Starz US, with Starz series and Lionsgate films. There may be some rights issues to work out at first. It will also have the obligatory Cancon which will water down the lineup considerably. Eventually it will likely air most Starz content, similar to how HBO Canada airs most original HBO content with a few exceptions and a bunch of Cancon filler.

It sounds like Starz may be dropping the movies that now air on Encore. They haven't been doing a very good a job at it for some time anyway. A lot of popular movie rights have been bought up by the likes of AMC, Hollywood Suite, Super Channel, TCM and various other services. There is a lot of competition for movie rights, so much that many channels once noted for their movies air very few or no longer air any.

I wonder if Bell is referring to CraveTV when it mentions "direct-to-consumer" or if it is planning to launch a separate Starz service. Putting it under the CraveTV umbrella would provide a much needed expansion of that service's offerings. Netflix is leaving CraveTV in the dust when it comes to original new content. CraveTV needs to offer new HBO and Starz content as it is released in order to compete.

Bell is monopolizing Canadian rights to U.S. premium TV.

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I agree. Bell is becoming the major Canadian outlet for popular US programming, premium or not. They have the bulk of popular US network programming on the two CTV networks and they own many of the most popular specialty TV channels. They also own the only remaining major Canadian OTT service.

And it's not just TV. In case anyone hasn't noticed, Bell has been on a major expansion for many years. CTV, CHUM, Astral Media (TMN), Bell Aliant and MTS probably top the list. All that's left is a Telus acquisition to make it a clean sweep for telecom services across Canada and turn Bell into the only national full service provider of fibre TV, wireless phone, fibre internet and satellite TV. That would leave Rogers, Shaw and Cogeco in a significantly weaker position than they are now.

If I read the press release correctly I think Encore will rebrand into Starz in 2018

As it appears Bell/TMN has rights to most of the shows from HBO,ShowTime and now Starz.

I see this happening:

Present-------------Shortly?
TMN 1 E/W----------TMN 1 E/W
TMN 2 E/W---------TMN 2 E/W
TMN 3 E/W---------Showtime E/W
Encore 1 E/W--------Starz 1 E/W
Encore 2 E/W--------Starz 2 E/W
HBO 1(East)----------HBO 1(East)
HBO 2(West)---------HBO 2(West)

It should be noted that most of the movies(only) you see on TMN(all including HBO)channels are divided up amongst HBO, Cinemax, Starz, Hitz & The Movie Channel(US), so actually getting TMN/HBO is a better deal in Canada, then haver to sub to all the Premium Movie Channels in the US.

I wouldn't be surprised if Bell got exclusive deals with Cinemax & HITZ

TMN 4 is a time shift of TMN 1 or TMN 1 in the west. It's really just one channel.
HBO 2 is a time shift of HBO 1 or HBO 1 in the west. It's really just one channel.
Will Starz 2 be a time shift of Starz 1?

TMN 2 E/W---------TMN 2 E/W
TMN 3 E/W---------Showtime E/W

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Or, alternately,
TMN 2 E/W---------Showtime 1
TMN 3 E/W---------Showtime 2
Or they could just keep airing Showtime shows as they do now. The main reason for a separate branding of of Starz is that in includes the Starz movie catalog. All they get from Showtime are the original series. That's not really enough for a separate channel but it could be done with separately acquired movie content.

As it is Showtime series add nicely to TMN. These days, TMN2 and TMN3 are not needed as the are simply a rescheduled version of TMN1 content. With PVRs and VOD, they have become unnecessary. It might have made sense to rebrand them under the Starz banner but the bean counters at Bell never miss a chance to siphon extra revenue from paying customers. Rebranding TMN Encore accomplishes that while eliminating the expense of buying the movie rights to content currently airing on those channels. When TMN Encore launched it was a $2 add-on to TMN. Now its also a standalone product that costs up to $10. Hollywood Suite does a better job at a cheaper price.