Canadian broadcaster Bell Media has signed a long-term licensing deal with Showtime.
Showtime series including The Affair, Ray Donovan and Penny Dreadful will immediately launch on Bell’s SVOD CraveTV, a competing service to Netflix Canada. Other Showtime series including Masters of Sex,Nurse Jackie, The Big C and Weeds will be available as well. Later this year, a Showtime-branded programming block will launch on linear channel The Movie Network.
In past international deals, Showtime parent CBS Corp. had licensed individual shows from the pay cabler, but this will be the first time a Showtime branded-block will air outside the U.S.
Over the course of the new agreement, CraveTV and TMN will become Canada’s exclusive home of Showtime-owned first-run programming as well as almost its entire catalogue of scripted and unscripted series, documentaries and specials.
