By Michaela Gordoni
Despite recent tariff turmoil, Canada looks to the US for its new TV season instead of making homemade content.
Canada’s TV schedules typically have a lot of US acquisition programs as the series attract Canadian viewers and advertisers. Some costlier Canadian content is sprinkled in as a requirement to meet the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission rules, Variety reports.
President Trump has promised to impose a 100% tariff on all movies made outside of the U.S., but the head of the Toronto International Film Festival, Cameron Bailey, and other Canada TV execs aren’t too worried.
“The long-term relationships we have with many of the big studios are really important,” said former CEO of Corus Entertainment, Troy Reeb. “Where we can, we start those conversations early, oftentimes as soon as the show’s in development and especially when they’re wanting to shoot in Canada, as many shows are now. We look for those opportunities.”
Canadian TV execs try to work with US programs to target Canada’s audience. MASTERCHEF CANADA will return, THE TRATORS CANADA will air, as well as THE PRICE IS RIGHT TONIGHT which will film in Toronto with Howie Mandell.
“Our Canadian programming has always been about telling Canadian stories and finding programming that really resonates with our audience,” said Kale Stockwell, Head of Original Programming at Rogers Sports & Media. “I think you can take a really well known franchise like LAW & ORDER or THE PRICE IS RIGHT or even HOMETOWN TAKEOVER and you can put a uniquely Canadian spin on it that speaks distinctly to the Canadian market.”
Canada’s Corus studios acquired THE PAPER, an THE OFFICE spinoff. It and THE COPENHAGEN TEST and PONIES will air on StackTV, a Canadian streaming channel.
“StackTV is, strategically, our most important product,” Reeb says. “It’s incredibly important that there be Canadian voices in an increasingly crowded streaming ecosystem. StackTV has been a great little growth engine and we want that to continue.”
Historian and filmmaker Caelum Vatnsdal said of the early rise of Hollywood and its effect on Canada, “A lot of the money that people would pay to see Hollywood films in all these other countries — European countries — mostly would stay there, and they would use that money to make their own films. In Canada, we gave that up willingly.”
Eventually, when Canada did put out its own content, it featured Hollywood rejects and was of low-quality, which Canadians, who were accustomed to American flicks, didn’t respond well to, CBC News reported.
Bailey noted that Canada’s involvement in Hollywood productions is often taken for granted, “but this year we’ve been able to really see what it means to pay closer attention to what Canada contributes to this cultural bond between the two nations. And I hope that that continues,” he said. “It’s delivered great benefits for both countries.”
While Canadian TV companies are still leaning on the US, there are still those who believe Canada needs to get more active in its domestic entertainment space
“This is more than a trade dispute — it’s an attack on the livelihoods of Canadian performers and creators,” said Eleanor Noble of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists union. “Now is the time to invest in a strong, truly domestic media production industry that can withstand external threats and thrive on the global stage.”
That could happen eventually, but for now it seems like Canada is still picking up Hollywood’s crumbs.
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