1 of 1- RadioActive
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Want To See HBO Max In Canada? You'll Have To Rely On Bell
It's probably no real surprise since they already have a business relationship, but the soon-to-debut streaming service (yes, another one!) HBO Max has signed with Bell's Crave TV to bring the service - or part of it at least - to Canada. That means if you want to see any of the shows (and owner Time Warner is promising to spend millions of dollars on originals solely for the streaming feed) and you're in Canada without a VPN, Bell is your only choice.
Of course, with all these things, Canadians get cheated. Because many of HBO's shows are sold off to other rights holders in Canada, we often end up with piecemeal echos of the real thing - as in CBS All Access, minus Star Trek or The Twilight Zone. And HBO Max here won't be any different, as the linked story below notes.
"Series made by indie producers for HBO Max will not be part of the Warner Bros. TV distribution deal with Bell Media.
For many years, I've wished we would stop being penalized for being in a different country and getting the "lite" or edited versions of all these services. Unfortunately, that's not likely to happen anytime soon. And that means while you may be able to get this new version of HBO, you won't completely get the Max.
Bell Media, Warner Bros. Sign Deal to Bring HBO Max Programming to Canada
- TheConsultant
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Re: Want To See HBO Max In Canada? You'll Have To Rely On Bell
RadioActive wrote:
For many years, I've wished we would stop being penalized for being in a different country and getting the "lite" or edited versions of all these services.
But, we ARE in a different country! That, alone, shouldn't be carte blanche for unique exclusions not afforded to other countries.
- Forward Power
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Re: Want To See HBO Max In Canada? You'll Have To Rely On Bell
Bell needs to be stopped, and more importantly, Bell needs to be completely shut down, or at least broken up. I am sick and tired of Bell this, Bell that, Bell exclusive this, Bell exclusive that... it needs to stop. And don't you dare bring up the B.S. about pensions/stock/etc., because I really don't care.
Last edited by Forward Power (October 30, 2019 10:41 am)
- paterson1
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Re: Want To See HBO Max In Canada? You'll Have To Rely On Bell
Well I guess if we are going to have a separate broadcast system in Canada we can't expect all of these services to be identical to what is offered south of the border. US broadcasters seem quite happy with the set up of partnering with Bell,Global or whoever, and for them it is less risky and probably more profitable.
How is this situation being handled in other countries like the UK, Australia, NZ, the Caribbean? Are all of these new networks and streaming services even available in these countries? Also over the years CTV, Global, City have been able to cherry pick programming from HBO and others and featured series OTA on regular network TV unedited. This doesn't usually happen in other countries and never in the US.
Economics is the real reason that many of these situations are set up the way they are. With a market less than one tenth the size of the US (taking out French Canada) just having everything available the same as in America would be suicide even irresponsible from a business point of view. Many of these streaming services and others upcoming won't even survive south of the border. Some in order to survive will likely be merged with others eventually.
People in both the US and Canada only have so much time, money, and interest to watch TV. I would even go as far to say that to the average viewer, the fact that CBS Access, or some other services are not identical to the US version is actually not a make or break deal. If CBS Access doesn't survive here, it is more economics than anything else.
Last edited by paterson1 (October 30, 2019 12:49 pm)
- RadioAaron
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Re: Want To See HBO Max In Canada? You'll Have To Rely On Bell
. That means if you want to see any of the shows (and owner Time Warner is promising to spend millions of dollars on originals solely for the streaming feed) and you're in Canada without a VPN, Bell is your only choice.
The article doesn't say the new series will be exclusive to streaming in Canada. I'd bet that some, if not all of the new original programming will be available on Bell's Crave and HBO channels, which are available on all providers.