The regional marriage of Bell Media’s The Movie Network and Corus’s Movie Central has come to an end.
Thursday evening saw Canada’s Bell Media announce a long-term agreement with HBO for exclusive rights to its library, past and current seasons of content, and plans to take The Movie Network (TMN) service national.
Simultaneously, Corus announced it is exiting the pay TV business, shutting down its Movie Central service, which included the Western rights to HBO Canada. The media company said it is choosing to focus on its women and kids business instead. A cash consideration of $211 million was paid to Corus by Bell Media as part of the agreement.
Bell Media will now be the sole operator of HBO Canada, and will maintain its Super Ecran pay service for the French-language HBO programming.
