Bell is aiming to appeal to Canadians this fall and next year with a lineup of diverse genre content, and a lot of original programming, after having success with in-house content last year.
Justin Stockman, VP of content development and programming at the company, tells Media in Canada, that original scripted and unscripted programs are increasingly resonating with Canadians, so the team has decided to expand this type of programming to offer more variety of genres, from family comedy and reality shows, to drama and suspense.
“That’s been really what our strategy is this year: building on success and how to make big things even bigger,” Stockman says. “Original content also allows Bell to reach an audience that is constantly changing due to all the newcomers,” he says.
Stockman says that another strategy the team put in place is to make sure it has as much CTV content on Crave as possible.
“That way we can reach an even broader audience, because there are distinct audiences that watch it on streaming, which are different from those that watch it on traditional TV. Each of these series can find different audiences depending on where we’re streaming each show,” he says. “We were thinking about these a little bit more separately. And with our shift in focus we’re broadening the overall audience.”
The line-up of originals for 2024/2025 includes a total of 98 titles in English and French such as Bad Trips (Crave), a drama about a young woman who meets a music editor at an influential media company who offers her an all-access pass to a world she craves to be a part of; The Last Captains (Bell Media Specialty Channel), a new docuseries that follows several generations of fishing families living in a remote archipelago in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Also, premiering Mark Mckinney Needs a Hobby (CTV), will follow actor and writer and former Kid in the Hall, Mark McKinney as he embarks on an epic quest to answer the question of who we are when we’re not working; My Pet Ate What? (Bell Media Specialty Channel), a series about a real veterinarian and his son as they travel far and wide to extract thousands of items from pets; Queen of the Castle (Bell Media Specialty Channel), which takes viewers into the world of high-stakes luxury renovations, as Canadian socialite Ann Kaplan Mulholland and her husband transform an English castle into an extravagant retreat.
For sports enthusiasts, The Rebuild: Inside the Montreal Canadiens (Crave) tells the behind-the-scenes story of the hockey team. And for zombie enthusiasts, Revival (Bell Media Specialty Channel) is about a single mother who is forced to make sense of the chaos in the midst of a city gripped by fear and confusion as the deceased are suddenly revived; and Les Gars Faut qu’on se Parle! (Crave), which explores mental health issues affecting men through interviews with people from diverse backgrounds and experts.
New acquisitions coming to Crave include Emperor of Ocean Park, based on a suspense novel about a prestigious law professor whose quiet life is disrupted when his father, a well-known judge, dies of an apparent heart attack; Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, which follows a young family in Texas facing the challenges of adulthood, parenthood and marriage; Happy’s Place, American singer and actress Reba McEntire plays a woman who inherits her father’s restaurant and discovers she has a half-sister.
Plus, Rescue: Hi-Surf is an action-packed drama that follows the personal and professional lives of the lifeguards who patrol and protect the North Shore of O’ahu, the most famous and dangerous stretch of coastline in the world. St. Denis Medical, a mockumentary, is about an underfunded and understaffed Oregon hospital where doctors and nurses do their best to treat patients. Insomia is about a professional woman who stops sleeping, just as her mother did before suffering a violent psychotic break; and Long Bright River, a thriller that tells the story of a police officer patrolling a Philadelphia neighborhood hard hit by the opioid crisis.
On the CTV new specialized acquisitions front are Doctor Odyssey, about a new doctor aboard a luxury cruise ship where he faces unique medical crises; High Potential, which follows a single mother with an exceptional mind whose unconventional gift for solving crimes leads her into an unusual partnership with a seasoned detective; Scamanda, about the story of Amanda Riley, a wife, mother and blogger, whose tragic cancer story captivated thousands; and The Summit, which follows 16 strangers who embark on a journey through the New Zealand Alps in an attempt to reach the top.
Additionally, the upcoming programming will feature new episodes of series such as Acting good (Bell Media Specialty Channel); Battle of the generations (CTV); Bush Wreck Rescue (Bell Media Specialty Channel); Canada’s Drag Race (Crave, pictured); Children Ruin Everything (CTV); Your Morning (CTV); East Harbour Heroes (Bell Media Specialty Channel); The Good Stuff with Mary Berg (CTV); and Late Bloomer (Crave).
