(Toronto) Rogers Communications confirms its intention to broadcast several specialty channels as part of an agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery that Bell Media had tried to thwart.
Rogers said it will begin streaming Discovery and Discovery ID on linear television in the new year, while others, including Animal Planet, Motor Trend and Discovery Science, will be available on demand and through Citytv+ on Amazon Prime Video channels.
Meanwhile, Bell Media, which previously sought an injunction to prevent its competitor’s distribution of those brands, said it had resolved all matters with Warner Bros. Discovery regarding the channels.
Bell Media also announced that it has extended a licensing agreement with the American entertainment and media conglomerate under which Crave is the exclusive owner of HBO and Max content in Canada.
The BCE subsidiary said the new agreement includes a co-production agreement to develop original Canadian content and grants Warner Bros Discovery the rights to original Bell Media programming for distribution outside of Canada.
In a filing in June, Bell Media argued that a licensing deal announced this year between Warner Bros. and Rogers violated non-competition clauses Bell established when it previously obtained the rights to the content.
Rogers has signed multi-year deals with Warner Bros Discovery, as well as NBCUniversal, for their popular lifestyle and entertainment brands in Canada starting next year.
In addition to the Discovery channels, Rogers has also added channels licensed to Corus Entertainment, including HGTV and The Food Network. These channels are also expected to change hands on 1er January 2025.