Disney/ABC Inks Licensing Deal With Canadian Streamer Shomi

The Walt Disney Studios and the Disney/ABC Television Group have inked a catalog TV deal with upstart Canadian SVOD Shomi.

The licensing deal covers mostly family and kids film and TV titles, including Disney classics like 102 Dalmations, Muppets Treasure Island and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The agreement also encompasses ABC, ABC Family and ABC Studios titles as Shomi grabs the exclusive streaming rights to the popular TV series and Revenge.

Read more Netflix Inks Canadian Output Deal With The Walt Disney Studios

Shomi, from Canadian media giants Shaw Media and Rogers Media, signed earlier catalog deals with Warner Bros., Starz Digital Media, 20th Century Fox and BBC Worldwide North America. The latest Disney deal is separate from an earlier Canadian output deal between Netflix Canada and Walt Disney Studios.

That pact will see movies from Disney, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm stream on Netflix Canada eight months after they leave theaters. Hollywood players, including HBO, are doing separate supply deals with a rival Canadian SVOD from Bell Media, code-named Project Latte, which like Shomi aims to slow the meteoric growth of a profitable Netflix Canada after it launched here in 2010.

The package buying also underlines the growing market for rights to Hollywood content among SVOD players north of the border.