Discovery Channel Canada is set to introduce new channels and move shows onto other platforms more easily under a new 10-year agreement between its parent CTVgm and Discovery Communications in the US.
The deal announced Tuesday extends the 15-year-old joint venture into 2019 and gives CTVgm access to as many as 14 other Discovery brands, with the option of launching new channels in Canada or rebranding its current services. The agreement is effective immediately.
‘The new deal was kind of ‘let’s start from fresh,” Discovery Canada president/GM Paul Lewis says. ‘It [opens] up a whole new era for the relationship [and] recognizes that Discovery Canada needs to be competitive in a world that’s not just limited to broadcasting.’
The Canadian channels are comprised of Discovery Channel, Discovery HD, Discovery Civilization and Animal Planet. Under the new deal, CTVgm will have English-language rights to channels including Discovery Science, Discovery Health and Investigation Discovery – but not TLC, Military Channel or OWN.
Lewis says no decisions have been made about which channels could launch in Canada.
‘We’re now really evaluating all those brands and deciding what makes the most sense for us to think about launching in Canada. We’ll probably be making those decisions between now and the fall,’ he says.
Under the new deal, Discovery shows that air here may now be moved by CTVgm to other platforms without the specific approval of its US partner – a ‘huge deal for us’ says Lewis. Such moves were previously handled on a case-by-case basis.
Discovery Channel Canada is a joint venture between CTVgm, which holds 80%, and Discovery Communications.
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Clarification: While CTV will have access to content from Discovery Health in the U.S., it cannot specifically launch the brand as a channel in Canada, as previously reported. Canwest owns and operates the Discovery Health Channel in Canada.
This article was updated April 9, 2010, to reflect the change.
