Bell Media announced today a monumental agreement with HBO for the exclusive Canadian multi-platform rights to HBO’s complete off-air catalogue of seminal television programming.
This comes shortly after the additional agreement from earlier today that HBO Canada is acquiring the entire past-season library of every HBO series that is currently on air, a press release stated.
Separate and distinct from the HBO Canada deal, Bell Media has exclusively acquired, for future exploitation, the national multi-platform rights, including SVOD, for the entire off-air library of HBO’s impressive programming catalogue. The deal translates to more than 850 hours of past scripted programming alone, as well as hundreds of hours of HBO movies, documentaries, and stand-up and music specials.
This additional programming is on top of the nearly 700 hours of HBO Canada content announced earlier, which will see every episode of every season of all current HBO programming available on linear and non-linear platforms for the first time this fall.
HBO, which is owned by Home Box Office Inc., is the oldest pay television service in North America, and has been in operation since 1972. It’s the network of such hit series as “Boardwalk Empire,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Game of Thrones,” “The Knick,” “The Newsroom,” and “True Blood.”