Fox’s Tubi and Sony Pictures Entertainment in Canada have struck terms on a new film and TV content licensing agreement.
In a sign the Canadian free, ad-supported TV market continues to grow amid turbulence for the digital advertising business, the latest agreement will see around 130 movies and TV episodes from Sony Pictures’ programming vault head to Tubi north of the border.
That includes TV series like Timeless and Mr. Mercedes and movies that include the Jumanji franchise, The Da Vinci Code, Captain Phillips, The Other Guys, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and Resident Evil.
“We are thrilled that many of our beloved film and television titles will now be available to the Tubi audience in Canada,” said Stephanie Shinkoda, vp distribution and co-country manager of Sony Pictures Entertainment Canada, said in a statement on Wednesday.
Sony Pictures in Canada has a separate content deal with Crave, the local Canadian streaming service run by Bell Media, that was signed in 2023 and which is not expected to be disrupted by the new Tubi agreement.
The new content licensing deal with Tubi is, however, a bellwether sign of the increased dominance of U.S. digital platforms in Canada as cord cutting and cord nevers continue to cut into the traditional market share of private Canadian broadcasters. That’s as Netflix and Amazon Prime continue to aggressively enter Canadian TV’s advertising market, which in turn is drawing ad dollars away from existing and emerging digital offerings.
“Sony Pictures Entertainment has been a valuable partner in expanding our diverse and ever-growing catalog as a free streamer for all fandoms. We’re committed to bringing Canadian audiences more of what they love—from big blockbusters to hidden gems—all completely free,” Sam Harowitz, senior vp of content acquisitions and partnerships at Tubi, said in another statement about the Sony Pictures deal.
Kitt Rosenfield from Tubi’s content acquisition and partnership team brokered the deal with Peter Hill from Sony Pictures Entertainment’s TV distribution team.