OTTAWA, Ontario, and GATINEAU, Quebec—In an important development in the ongoing battle to get tech giants to compensate news organizations for lost advertising, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued a decision that will pave the way for Google to contribute $C100 million ($71.85 million) annually to news organizations in that country.

Canada’s government in June of 2023 passed the Online News Act, a law intended to ensure that online platforms that make Canadian news content available fairly compensate Canadian news organizations. The CRTC, Canada’s national telecom regulator, was tasked with implementing the act, which came into force last Dec. 19.

The CRTC’s rule allows online platforms such as Google to request an exemption from a requirement to bargain with individual news outlets if they can reach terms with a group representing a broad range of Canadian news organizations. The CRTC must then hold a public consultation on any exemption request received.

In June 2024, Google applied for a five-year exemption from the act, which the CRTC said it has now approved. That arrangement requires Google to pay $71.85 million to the Canadian Journalism Collective (CJC) within 60 days of this decision. The CJC will then distribute the funds equitably to eligible Canadian news organizations.

As part of the agreement, the CJC will report back to the CRTC each year.

Similar efforts to get tech giants like Google and Facebook to compensate news organizations for the content that produces billions of dollars in ad revenue for search engines and social media platforms have also been underway in Australia and the United States, with mixed results.

For several years, the National Association of Broadcasters has unsuccessfully urged Congress to pass the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA), a bipartisan bill that would give TV stations and other news publishers the power to collectively negotiate terms with Big Tech companies over how their content is used online.

California, where legislators were close to passing legislation modeled after the Canadian bill, negotiated a deal that would direct around $250 million over five years to local media in exchange for dropping the proposed law.

The agreement was widely attacked by the NAB, journalists and media industry experts for benefiting Google.

In September, NAB Senior Vice President of Communications Alex Siciliano said the “last-minute, closed-door deal between Google and the state of California has succeeded in shelving popular bipartisan state legislation that would have fairly compensated local newsrooms for their valuable journalism. This sets a dangerous precedent that could cripple trusted news outlets, and lets Big Tech off the hook as they continue to siphon advertising dollars away from local broadcast stations and other news publishers while not offering fair compensation for our content.”

In sharp contrast, reaction to the CRTC-Google agreement was mostly positive. News Media Canada, which represents hundreds of publishers, said in a statement that it is “very pleased,” the Financial Post reported.

OAKVILLE, Ontario—As part of Emergency Preparedness Week, Alert Ready, Canada's national public alerting system, will be distributing a test alert to Canadians in participating provinces and territories on their television, radio and compatible wireless devices on Wednesday, May 8, 2024.

"The Alert Ready system is a critical service that helps keep Canadians safe," says Martin Belanger, director of public alerting at Pelmorex, which operates Canada’s alerting system Alert Ready. "Testing provides an opportunity to raise awareness about the Alert Ready system and to validate that it works as intended in case of an actual emergency."

Alert Ready is designed to deliver critical and potentially life-saving alerts to Canadians, including but not limited to tornadoes, flooding, fires and AMBER alerts. In 2023, the Alert Ready system distributed 1086 emergency alerts across Canada.

To learn more, visit alertready.ca. 

Following the U.S. launch of Conan O’Brien TV on Samsung TV Plus earlier this year, Samsung Electronics America, Inc. and Conan O’Brien have announced the expansion of the channel to Samsung TV Plus users in Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

The channels are exclusive to Samsung TV Plus, Samsung’s free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) and video-on-demand (AVOD) service that delivers over 2,500 channels globally, and thousands of shows and movies to users across 535M active devices globally across TV and mobile.

“We are thrilled to expand our exclusive partnership and provide the Conan O’Brien TV FAST channel to Samsung consumers in new markets,” said Jeff Ross, executive producer of the show. “Samsung TV Plus is a staple in the global FAST marketplace and has demonstrated itself as the ideal partner to deliver some of Conan’s most iconic moments to new and loyal fans.”

“Consumers today want premium entertainment content and that is our mission at Samsung TV Plus,” said Takashi Nakano, senior director of content and business development, Samsung TV Plus. “With the successful launch of the Conan O’Brien TV channel in the U.S., it was instrumental that we expand the reach of our quality entertainment. We are honored to continue working with innovative and creative partners like Conan to provide laughs, fun and entertainment to Samsung TV Plus consumers across the globe.”

Embodying Conan’s unique brand of comedy, the Conan O’Brien TV channel has hundreds of hours of programming and delivers a 24/7 schedule that is curated as 30-minute segments featuring the best of Conan’s late-night archives, including sketch comedy, celebrity guests and more.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—LG Ad Solutions has expanded its global presence into the Canadian marketplace and has hired Jason Randall as country manager, vice president of sales, Canada. Randall previously held sales roles at AdTheorent, Verizon Media, Amobee, and Yahoo! Inc.

In announcing the expansion, LG also released a study of connected TV use by Canadian consumers that highlighted growing interest in free ad-supported streaming services. 

Titled, “The Big Shift: Canada Wave II,” the study surveyed more than 750 Canadian consumers in June 2023 and found that Canadian TV viewership is shifting away from linear TV with 26% of those surveyed saying they are watching less linear television than a year ago. 

In its place, FAST services are growing in popularity among Canadian consumers, with 61% preferring to stream free, ad-supported content rather than pay for a subscription. In fact, 24% of respondents spend 2-5 hours per week watching free, ad-supported TV apps.

Additional findings from the report include:

• Economic concerns are impacting subscriptions as over one in three viewers have canceled a streaming service to save money.
• 87% of Canadian connected TV users pay for one or more streaming apps, and more than half (55%) are willing to cancel a subscription after watching the desired content.
• While recommendations from family and friends (52%) are the top source for new content, nearly half (45%) of consumers use the homepage of their TV screen for new content. This is 16% more than the number for U.S. consumers.

“As consumers shift away from linear and subscription television viewing towards free, ad-supported content, advertisers have a tremendous opportunity to reach an audience that is looking to engage with brands that are on these services,” said Jason Randall, country manager, vice president of sales, Canada, LG Ad Solutions. “Compared to U.S. consumers, Canadian TV viewers are more likely to search online, visit a website, and talk about an ad or product after seeing a connected TV ad. With LG Ad Solutions’ expansion into the Canadian market, advertisers can effectively reach and engage this valuable audience that is more likely to convert.”

To learn more about LG Ad Solutions and to download the full report, visit https://lgads.tv/resource/big-shift-canada-wave-ii/.

Ross Video’s Jared Schatz and Jen Jarvis sit down for an insightful Q&A with TVTech Contributing Editor Phil Kurz. The pair discuss some of the hottest technologies affecting news gathering, production and presentation, including advances in story-centric workflows, the role of AI in the newsroom and the production control room as well as the growing use of LED screens on set.

Check out the video below. 

A group of Canadian broadcasters, including CBC and Bell Media, has united to form Canadian Broadcasters for Sustainability to promote environmentally sustainable change. The group's formation was announced at the Banff World Media Festival over the weekend.

This is the first time such a broad and diverse group of Canadian public and private broadcasters from different linguistic and regional markets have come together for a common cause. The group includes: 

• Accessible Media Inc.
• Asian Television Network
• Bell Media
• Blue Ant Media
• CBC/Radio-Canada
• Channel Zero
• CHEK Media
• Corus Entertainment
• Hollywood Suite
• Knowledge Network
• New Tang Dynasty (Canada)
• Nunavut Independent Television Network
• OUTtv
• Pelmorex Corp.
• Remstar Media Rogers Sports & Media
• Super Channel
• Télé-Québec
• TFO
• TV5
• TVO
• Wildbrain

Canadian broadcasters play a significant role in the creation, support and delivery of content to people living in Canada, and with that role comes the obligation to embed environmentally sustainable thinking in their commissioned productions. Working together, the group will share their learnings, reduce duplication and increase collective impact and the speed of environmentally sustainable change.

Canadian Broadcasters for Sustainability is committed to meeting at least quarterly to leverage each other's sustainability progress and collectively advance five goals: 

• collaborate on sustainability initiatives to avoid duplication and ensure resources and learnings have more impact;
• increase the scope and impact of sustainability actions; 
• improve efforts to produce content* sustainably including how carbon impact is measured and addressed; 
• reach more audiences with content* that inspires people to make more sustainable choices and is informed by science; 
• understand and consult with marginalized communities that are disproportionately affected by climate change. 

*Excluding news and current affairs.

“Our industry has a responsibility to take meaningful action on climate change. After the launch of our first environmental strategy in 2021 and the recent announcement of our participation in Canada’s Net-Zero Challenge, CBC/Radio-Canada is proud to redouble our efforts by joining with other broadcasters to make Canadian media production greener and more sustainable,” said Catherine Tait, President and CEO, CBC/Radio-Canada.

“This initiative, combined with our ongoing commitment to make our operations carbon neutral by 2025 and to reduce absolute GHG emissions by 2030, demonstrates our determination to pursue change within our industry, said Karine Moses, Senior Vice President, Content Development & News and Vice Chair, Québec, Bell Media. "Bell Media is proud to participate in this essential initiative, with the support of our broadcasting colleagues, to change things for the better and build a more sustainable and prosperous future.” 

The interest in ATSC 3.0 in the United States is so strong, that one might assume that it is being reflected in other parts of the world. 

However, the standard has only officially been adopted by Korea, Jamaica and the Republic of Trinidad-Tobago. But as other larger countries including Brazil, Canada and India illustrate, each nation has its own approach to next-generation broadcast TV. (Note: “NextGen TV” is the U.S. brand of ATSC 3.0.)

Brazil Designing Transmission System
Although Brazil has not selected ATSC 3.0 or any other predefined advanced terrestrial TV standard, a group of Brazilian broadcasters, manufacturers and academics called the Fórum do Sistema Brasileiro de TV Digital Terrestre (“SBTVD Forum”) has launched the “TV 3.0” project. This made-in-Brazil, custom-designed, next-generation terrestrial digital TV system uses a hybrid broadcast/wireless broadband delivery approach, which the SBTVD Forum is promoting to the Brazilian federal government for adoption.

“The intention is to design a new state-of-the-art terrestrial TV system that improves upon the current Brazilian DTV system, via a non-backward-compatible transition,” said Skip Pizzi, chair of ATSC’s Brazil Implementation Team. “TV 3.0 is being designed to provide greater OTA robustness and spectrum efficiency, higher audio and video qualities, greater flexibility for broadcasters and more choice for Brazil’s TV consumers, improved accessibility and emergency information features, along with expansion of the current Brazilian TV system’s interactive capabilities.”

This being said, the SBTVD Forum has already recommended using some core elements of ATSC 3.0 in its made-in-Brazil platform. They include ATSC 3.0’s ROUTE/DASH Transport system, its MPEG-H Audio system, IMSC1 Captions system, and the ATSC 3.0 Advanced Emergency Alerting system, along with some elements of ATSC 3.0’s Video-HEVC system. 

“The Forum continues to evaluate proposals for TV 3.0’s OTA Physical Layer and its Application Coding system, for which ATSC 3.0’s proposals remain in the running,” Pizzi added. “ATSC is assisting Brazil in the ongoing development of its TV 3.0 system. Like all proponents to the TV 3.0 process, ATSC has agreed that if any of its proposed technologies were selected by the SBTVD Forum, we would assist in the drafting of the TV 3.0 standard specifications, operational guidelines, and conformance documentation, which we are currently engaged with on the Audio, Video and Captions specifications.”

Pizzi said that an end-to-end demonstration of the complete TV 3.0 system is expected by August 2024 and expected to launch in 2025, “although spectrum allocations for the new service remain TBD,” he added.

The popularity of over-the-air Brazilian TV makes this a worthwhile investment for broadcasters. “It’s essentially the opposite of the U.S. situation, in that Brazil’s OTA TV usage accounts for about 85% of viewing, while pay TV’s penetration is only around 15%,” Pizzi explained. “As well, the overall market size is quite large, at around 70 million TV households and growing, with Brazil’s per-capita TV viewing second only to the U.S. in the Western Hemisphere, and fifth-ranked among all countries in the world.”

Canada: Integrating 3.0 and 5G
To support research into ATSC 3.0 multi-sectoral applications in Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) has awarded a C$4.5 million grant (US$3.34 million) to Humber College to create Canada’s first Broadcast-Broadband Convergence B²C Lab in Toronto. It is headed up by Humber B²C Lab Director Orest Sushko.

“We are a 100% front-facing industry research lab,” said Sushko. “We are able to provide insights through ATSC 3.0 innovations in our lab that can inform and support new provisions in broadcast regulatory policy.”

To pursue its ATSC 3.0 research, the Humber B²C Lab has been equipped with an ATSC 3.0 IP-based broadcast ecosystem and a 5G core network, allowing its personnel to explore convergence of these two data delivery systems. The lab also has an RF anechoic chamber to support the development and testing of a wide range of wireless devices and prototypes.

As well, having been granted the first and only ATSC 3.0 experimental broadcasting license in Canada, the Humber B²C Lab has deployed a custom multiple transmitter/antenna ATSC. 3.0 over-the-air test bed covering the Toronto area.

As for the role of Canadian broadcasters in this process? “They can help advance research using the television spectrum that could be supported by government regulators,” Sushko replied. “This could bring forth new conversations about developing more efficient use of that spectrum through ATSC 3.0.”

“Our broadcasters are very supportive of the research work that we’re undertaking, as they continue to learn more about the standard,” he added. “They’re watching the U.S. rollout and still determining what sort of resources they’re prepared to put into ATSC 3.0.”

South Korea: a True ATSC 3.0 Pioneer
The Republic of Korea (aka South Korea) was the first to launch ATSC 3.0 in 2017 to deliver better video and audio quality to OTA viewers in its largest urban areas, using the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang to promote its 4K capabilities. Today, this country is extending ATSC 3.0 coverage to medium and small cities, according to Dr. Sung-Ik Park, the Republic of Korea’s Project Leader of ATSC 3.0 Physical Layer, for the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), a government-funded research organization.

“Korea is the most advanced country in terms of SFN [single frequency network] design and optimization,” he said. “For example, KBS [Korea Broadcasting System], the largest broadcaster in Korea, constructed a national SFN with more than 20 transmitters and is installing more transmitters for better coverage and field strength. Furthermore, Korea is testing MIMO and Channel Bonding technologies for future applications such as 8K-UHD delivery and multiplex businesses.”

To date, South Korea’s interest in ATSC 3.0 has been for broadcasting 4K-UHD video and enhanced audio. However, “ATSC 3.0 is a toolbox that can do more than just TV,” said Dr. Park. “Korea primarily focuses on UHD broadcasting but has prepared several new services such as high-quality mobile for D2M (direct-to-mobile) and D2V (direct-to-vehicle), enhanced GPS for centimeter-level accuracy, high-quality audio-only service, targeted advertisement, emergency alert, and others.”

(Read also: ATSC Seeks to Converge Global DTT Standards)

At present, the popularity of South Korean OTA TV is being undercut by Netflix and other streaming platforms. “However, OTA will be stronger than now due to the several new ATSC 3.0 services mentioned above,” Dr. Park said. “In particular, datacasting services like emergency alerts and enhanced GPS will be killer applications for terrestrial broadcasters.”

Meanwhile, government and industry support for ATSC 3.0 is strong in this country. “Korea commercially started UHD broadcasting in 2017 thanks to a great effort from broadcasters, industries, academics, and the government,” explained Dr. Park. “Due to this effort, major TV manufacturers support the ATSC 3.0 function in their models. Korean broadcasters plan to install ATSC 3.0 in all major cities by 2023 and cover the whole territories of South Korea, including medium/small cities, by 2027.”

India Focuses on d2m
The world’s most populous country has also been considering ATSC 3.0 as its next generation terrestrial television standard. In 2021, the ATSC signed an agreement with the Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI)—the government agency responsible for developing telecommunications standards in the country—to transpose ATSC 3.0 as a possible next generation broadcast standard. That work is now complete.

Mark Aitken, senior vice president of advanced technology with Sinclair Broadcast Group—which has been working with broadcasters in that country to build an SFN for ATSC 3.0 trials in Bangalore—says that rather than adopt the standard as a whole for TV, the country is considering certain aspects of ATSC 3.0—in particular its mobility elements—in a “direct to mobile” (D2M) strategy. 

“The ministry in broadcasting [MIB] has explicitly asked for proposals to build out direct to mobile infrastructure,” he said. “So there’s activity underway with both private and government parties working together to figure out building out marketplaces with direct to mobile [services].”

In a country where only 2% of the population watches television over-the-air, using broadcast to transmit to mobile devices could go a long way towards closing the digital gap, Aitken said. He added that more than 800 million people in India don’t have access to high-speed broadband, and yet the country is the largest per capita consumer of digital video services on mobile devices in the world, “by a fairly large margin.”

Aitken says the Indian Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC), the government agency responsible for approving telecommunications standards in India, is expected to make a decision on whether to make 3.0 the D2M standard by the end of the year. 

If TEC gives its approval, it’s very likely that the government could mandate support for 3.0 chipsets in mobile devices sold in India, giving ATSC 3.0 an enormous boost (and argument for) adding support for 3.0-enabled mobile devices in other parts of the world. 

If you live north of the U.S.-Canada border, don’t throw out your radios and broadcast TV sets quite yet.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC, Canada’s public radio/TV broadcaster), said last month that over-the-air radio and TV transmissions will continue “until adequate high-speed internet is available to all Canadians,” according to a report posted on CBC.ca.

The (somewhat) reassuring statement by CBC was a followup to a Globe and Mail newspaper interview with CBC President/CEO Catherine Tait, which stated: “The head of the CBC says it is preparing to end traditional TV and radio broadcasts and move completely digital, as audiences shift to streaming, but the move is unlikely to happen over the next decade.” The Globe and Mail quoted Tait as saying, “‘If we’re going to be audience first we have to be digital first.’”

In that interview, Tait stated that such a switchoff would not occur until “broadband ubiquity” had been achieved across Canada, so that rural Canadians would not lose their access to CBC content.

She reemphasized the point in the subsequent CBC.ca news report. “Let’s be clear. We are not abandoning anyone who’s watching on traditional television or listening on traditional radio,” Tait said. “We are looking at a two-decade horizon … We are a vast country and until we have ubiquity in broadband delivery in this country, we will leave no one behind.”

As for the notion that the CBC is pushing away from broadcast in favor of digital, Tait said in the Globe and Mail interview: “We don’t want to drag Canadians to digital. They are dragging us. We saw it in the pandemic, subscriptions to streaming go way up and those people don’t go back to conventional television.”

A similar view was stated by BBC Director General Tim Davie in a headline-making December 2022 interview with the Guardian newspaper. “Imagine a world that is internet-only, where broadcast TV and radio are being switched off and choice is infinite,” he said then. In such a world, broadcast radio/TV has no relevance. Since such a future seems imminent, “A switch-off of broadcast will and should happen over time,” said Davie, “and we should be active in planning for it.”

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand, Radio World. 

A new survey from LG Ad solutions has found that the use of connected TVs is near saturation in Canada, with 88% of Canadian internet users are now reachable by connected TV (CTV).

The survey also highlighted the shift to ad-supported streaming options with 60% of these consumers using ad-supported CTV apps and channels. 

The findings are part of a newly released study of over 560 Canadian consumers conducted by LG Ad Solutions to understand consumer perceptions and behaviors related to CTV.

The survey also found that 58% of consumers prefer ad-supported models of CTV. 

About one in five (18%) of consumers have removed a subscription CTV service from the household in the last 12 months while 15% have added a free ad-supported CTV service during the same period, LG reported. 

Consumers have indicated that a shift to ad-supported will continue as 20% plan on removing a subscription CTV service in the next 12 months while 13% plan on adding more free ad-supported services during the same period. In fact, 65% of consumers express the desire to trade off less expensive subscriptions for ad inclusion. 

“There have been two recent ‘big shifts’ in Canadian television viewing habits - the first was the rise of subscription-driven connected TV, fueled by rapid adoption related to the initial onset of the pandemic,” said Tony Marlow, Global CMO at LG Ad Solutions. “And right now we are in the midst of the second big shift, the adoption of free ad-supported connected TV content. This latest piece of thought leadership shows that most Canadians now both use and prefer ad-supported models of connected TV. This presents an opportunity for marketers to provide better TV experiences for viewers and connect with their audiences on the biggest screen in Canadian homes.”

Other key findings include: 

• Netflix is still king for subscriptions: When asked which subscription services consumers use, the top three were: Netflix (76%), Prime Video (56%) and Disney+ (39%).
• Targeting on content vs interest: 73% of consumers express that they prefer ads relevant to their interests while 60% prefer ads relevant to the content they are watching. When it comes to streaming ads in particular, almost half (42%) think streaming ads are more relevant and 29% say they pay more attention to them. 
• Homescreen is important for discovery: 48% of consumers search for content to watch directly from the TV’s native home screen.
• Multi-tasking is common: 94% multitask with mobile/laptop when watching TV and 18% always multitask.
• Living room TV is the preferred device across content types apart from social video. 88% of CTV households say the living room is their main TV.

One in three Canadians have canceled at least one subscription video on demand service in the past month according to new research from Angus Reid Institute, a non-profit Canadian research firm. At least half said the cancellations were due to inflation, while others (39%) said they weren’t using certain services as much and nearly 25% said the canceled service didn’t meet their expectations. 

However, more than four-in-five (85%) now say they have at least one streaming service subscription, up from approximately half in 2016.

Another popular trend in the Great White North is cord-cutting: Just three-in-five now say they subscribe to cable or satellite TV, according to the survey. This represents a five-point drop from 2018 and a 27-point drop over the past decade. 

This trend is primarily with younger viewers as 82% of Canadians over the age of 54 say they still subscribe; compared to only 41% of 18- to 34-year-olds. More than three quarters of respondents don’t believe they’re getting their money’s worth from their pay-TV subscriptions, with 40% planning to cancel in the near future. 

Back to SVOD, a majority (65%) of Canadians subscribe to more than one, including two-in-five (40%) who subscribe to three or more, although ARI notes that password sharing could mean that the actual total of subscribers reported may be higher than the number of individual subscriptions.

Canadians over the age of 64 are the only age group of whom a majority do not subscribe to more than one streaming service, but still two-in-five (41%) of this age have access to at least two. Meanwhile, half of Canadians aged 35 to 54 (48%) subscribe to three or more SVOD services.

The results are from an online survey conducted from Oct. 11-13, 2022 among a representative randomized sample of 1,618 Canadian adults who are members of Angus Reid Forum.

TORONTO—Paramount Global and Corus Entertainment Inc. have announced that the free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service Pluto TV will debut in Canada on December 1.

The launch will feature Pluto’s most robust content offering at launch to-date, with more than 100 unique, curated channels and over 20,000 hours of content, including a wide spectrum of free programming such as drama, comedy, lifestyle, kids, movies, around-the-clock news and more, Paramount reported. 

In addition, audiences will have access to flagship Canadian series from Corus Studios as well as key series from the popular NCIS Franchise. 

The FAST service will also feature curated movie channels programmed by genre, including Pluto TV Comedy, Pluto TV Drama, Pluto TV Action, The Asylum, Christmas 365 and Thriller 365.

“Our initial channel lineup further illustrates how we are working to combine Corus' incredible local content offering with Pluto TV's global content, to meet the tastes of the Canadian audience,” explained Olivier Jollet, executive vice president and international GM for Pluto TV at Paramount Global. “I'm confident that Pluto TV will quickly become a new destination both for fans of curated content as well as for clients and partners interested in investing in a new and unique streaming service upon its launch."

NEW YORK—Discovery has announced that its streaming service discovery+ will launch in Canada on October 19. 

The services will be available starting at Can$4.99 per month, with an ad-free version available for Can$6.99 per month.

At launch the streaming service will offer more than 60,000 episodes of Discovery content from its networks and  more than 200 exclusive, original series. 

The streaming service will be available on a variety of devices, including Amazon Fire TV streaming devices; iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K; Google devices and platforms; Microsoft Store on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S devices; Roku and Samsung Smart TVs (2017 and newer). 

“We are thrilled to launch discovery+ in Canada, a country of devoted Discovery fans and home to many of the most beloved stars in our family,” said JB Perrette, president and CEO of Discovery Streaming and International. "We know it will resonate with our loyal audience in Canada, as we continue to roll the service out to a number of key markets around the world throughout the rest of 2021.” 

Discovery will enter the Canadian market with an integrated marketing partnership with Corus Entertainment Inc. 

Discovery will work with Corus to introduce the service to Canadians via Corus’ linear networks, radio, digital, and social platforms. 

"We are excited to build on over 20 years as joint venture partners with Discovery in Canada," said Doug Murphy, president and CEO, Corus Entertainment. "As the country’s leader in lifestyle content, Corus' extensive suite of media assets provide broad scale and reach to audiences seeking to experience Discovery's deep library of world class content wherever they are. With our expertise in driving discoverability and brand recognition, we look forward to supporting the growth of discovery+ in Canada.”

ARLINGTON, Va.—PBS Distribution has announced that its PBS Masterpiece streaming channel is now available for Canadian viewers through Amazon Prime Video Channels. PBS Masterpiece includes the latest episodes of British dramas and award-winning series.

With the launch of the PBS Masterpiece channel, Canadian viewers will have access to programs that include “Sanditon,” “Endeavour,” “Home Fries,” “Inspector Lewis,” “Poldark” and “Victoria.” The channel also provides titles from the Walter Presents library, featuring shows from all over the world, subtitled in English.

The PBS Masterpiece streaming channel has been available in the U.S. since 2017.

The subscription rate for PBS Masterpiece in Canada will be CDN $6.99/month, plus applicable taxes with an Amazon Prime membership.

BURBANK, Calif.—Disney+ will waste little time rolling out to international markets, as TVT’s sister publication Broadcasting & Cable has reported the Walt Disney Co.’s plans for its new streaming service. Canada, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand will have access to Disney+ as of November, with it launching in Canada and the Netherlands the same day as in the U.S., Nov. 12, and Australia and New Zealand debuting it a week later on Nov. 19.

In addition to launch dates, Disney announced pricing in those countries. For Canada, the streaming service will cost $9.99 in Canadian dollars; €6.99 in the Netherlands; Australians will be able to sign up for $8.99 in Australia dollars; and $9.99 New Zealand dollars in that country. In the U.S., the service will cost $6.99.

Disney says that is has distribution deals with all major platforms to access Disney+ on mobile and connected TVs, including Apple, Google, Microsoft, Xbox One, Sony Android-based TVs, PlayStation 4 and Roku players and TV models.