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TSN, CTV, other Bell Media channels to remain home of NFL in Canada

Bell Media channels will remain the home of football broadcasts in Canada, thanks to a fresh media rights agreement between Bell and the National Football League (NFL).

That means Canadian football fans can continue tuning into games on TSN, CTV, CTV2, RDS, live streaming through the networks’ official apps, and through TSN Direct and RDS Direct subscriptions. A Bell Media release says fans will be able to watch pre-season games through to the Super Bowl, with the extended, multi-year agreement including:

  • Thursday Night Football regular-season games
  • Sunday 1pm ET regular-season games
  • Sunday 4pm ET regular-season games
  • Sunday Night Football regular-season games
  • Monday Night Football regular-season games, including the new slate of games produced by ABC
  • NFL RedZone, available every Sunday starting at 1pm ET
  • All ‘International Series’ games, including the recently announced game live from Germany
  • All Playoff games
  • The Super Bowl

Bell Media is the exclusive television broadcast partner of the NFL in Canada. It’s worth noting that TSN has televised NFL games since 1987, and CTV’s NFL partnership began in 2007.

Of course, for fans of the Super Bowl’s big-budget advertisements, this will continue the Canadian tradition of missing out. As a refresher, Bell argued it would lose millions in ad revenue if U.S. Super Bowl ads were aired in Canada and a December 2019 ruling banned American ads from airing in Canada.

Bell Media directs fans to check out TSN’s NFL page for breaking NFL news, features, analysis, game previews, recaps and more.

Source: Bell Media

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Mobile Syrup

CTV app now available on Roku streaming devices and TVs

Roku has announced that all Canadian users will have access to the CTV app. It will be accessible across Roku streaming players and Roku TVs.

Starting today, Roku users will have access to live and on-demand content from CTV’s catalogue. Content ranges from series and movies across CTV Comedy Channel, CTV Drama Channel, CTV Sci-Fi Channel, and CTV Life Channel. On top of that, Discovery, Animal Planet, Discovery Science, Discovery Velocity, Investigation Discovery, E!, and MUCH are accessible.

Roku has confirmed that access will not require a subscription. A sign-in to access CTV Throwback, CTV Movies, and MTV will also not be mandatory. Additionally, “thousands of hours of classic television and favourite series” will be available to Roku users.

“We are thrilled to be welcoming CTV to our platform offerings. As the #1 TV streaming platform in Canada, we are committed to expanding Roku’s Canadian content availability,” said Mary-Anne Taylor, Head of Content Distribution, Canada at Roku, in a statement. “The launch of CTV is an important milestone as we continue to build on providing Canadians with the best streaming experience possible. With this launch, Roku users across the country have access to premium content such as live news, free movies and TV, and Canadian productions.”

When accessing the Roku streaming device or Roku TV, users can make their way to the Channel Store and install that CTV app on their device. From there, the app can be added to the home screen for easy access.

This news quickly follows the announcement that Roku and Amazon reached a multi-year extension of their agreement. Customers continue to have access to both the Prime Video and IMDb TV apps on their Roku devices.

Image credit: Roku

Source: Roku

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Mobile Syrup

Roku acquires Canadian-made ‘Children Ruin Everything’ for US streaming

Roku has acquired the Canadian series, Children Ruin Everything, an eight-episode show that’s created by Schitt’s Creek‘s co-executive producer Kurt Smeaton, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  

This is Roku’s first-non U.S. and Canadian acquisition and is the first 30-minute acquisition by Roku since its Quibi takeover from earlier this year. In Canada, Bell Media holds the international rights for the series, which will air on CTV. The series is set to air in 2022.

Children Ruin Everything stars, Meaghan Rath, from Being Human, Aaron Abrams from Blindspot, Ennis Esmer from Schitt’s Creek and Nazneen Contractor from Star Trek: Into Darkness. Additionally,

Children Ruin Everything was inspired by my own parenting experience, where every plan my wife and I made was thwarted by our kids in surprising and funny ways,” Smeaton said in a statement. “I’m thrilled to partner with Roku on this project and bring the show to the U.S.”

Roku Originals are available for free on the Roku Channel for free for more than 25,000 free movies and programs.

While this is Roku’s first Canadian series, Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas will shoot in Vancouver.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter