In a surprisingly un-ballyhooed coup, Bell Canada has taken over the broadcast partner role at the Toronto International Film Festival that Rogers had a lock on for decades. Last week, a mildly worded news release announced that all TIFF’s celebrity press conferences and interviews, red carpet arrivals and glitzy parties will be available to Bell ExpressVu customers and on FreeVu! Festival Access (channel 835 for HD and 307 for standard digital) as well as on Bell Mobility cellphones.

Ousting Rogers was a perk – if not the actual raison d’etre – of becoming TIFF’s lead sponsor. Another is that, in return for an undisclosed sum, Bell will have exclusive telecom sponsorship and preferred supplier status at the fest until 2018 – as well as exclusive naming rights to the Festival Centre, which is due to open in Toronto’s entertainment district in 2008.

A TIFF sponsor since 1995, Bell will be the presenter of one of the gala screenings (After the Wedding) and once again have Festival Access street teams on site throughout TIFF. This time around, they’ll be outfitted with back-pack-mounted overhead digital TVs and MotoQ handsets from Motorola to entertain and inform film-goers waiting in ticket line-ups with movie trailers, interviews and the latest TIFF news, parties and events. As well, Bell is sponsoring a contest to win a home theatre system plus notebook computer and Bell ExpressVu and Sympatico Internet service.

As for Rogers’ role at TIFF this year, the festival’s press office characterizes it as ‘uncredited, but they will be covering the events (on their own channels).’ In another downplayed context, the deal that awarded Rogers the naming rights for TIFF’s future industry centre – announced a few years back – no longer exists.

www.bell.ca/festivalaccess