Corus Entertainment has secured a groundbreaking, long-term licensing agreement with Disney/ABC Television Group that will see Corus take on stewardship of the brand in Canada, with control of English and French language rights to Disney Channel content and launching the channel in country. Disney Channel is scheduled to debut there on September 1 of this year.
The agreement also includes authenticated simultaneous streaming and ad-supported video-on-demand rights for select programs airing on the channel, allowing fans to catch-up on episodes of their favourite series. Following the launch of Disney Channel in the fall, select Disney branded kids linear television offerings will also be rolled out in the future as those brands and programming are transitioned to Corus.
This multi-year agreement expands on the relationship between Corus and the Disney/ABC Television Group that began in 2011, when Corus announced the launch of its millennial-targeted service ABC Spark, based on Disney/ABC’s hugely successful ABC Family channel in the United States.
