This Week in WCIW #49

Welcome to the December 13, 2021 edition of This Week in WCIW, the weekly newsletter from Where Can I Watch – covering the latest news on where TV shows and movies will be available in Canada.

There's a lot of programming news to cover, mostly looking ahead to January, about movies and series like Eternals, MacGruber, American Auto, and La Fortuna, plus a few deals on Crave gift cards, CBC Gem, and more. Let's get into it.

Programming news

• Disney has indicated it will release Marvel Studios' Eternals on Disney+ (including in Canada) on January 13, a full ten weeks (or 70 days) after its theatrical release on November 5. While certainly quick by pre-2020 standards, it's still a longer wait compared to Disney's Encanto (which will only have thirty-day theatrical exclusivity, debuting on Disney+ on December 24).
   
• Some more networks have been announcing their winter programming plans. Perhaps most pertinent to this newsletter was Corus' announcement about programming coming to Showcase and W Network, including MacGruber and season 4 of the now-cancelled A.P. Bio (both airing Sundays starting January 9), and Sky UK series Wolfe (Sundays starting Feburary 20), I Am (Wednesdays starting January 5), and This Way Up (Thursdays starting January 6).
  
  A separate Corus announcement notes Canadian programming coming to History Canada over the winter, including a new season of Rust Valley Restorers.
   
• In a similar vein, CTV has announced that season 2 of Transplant will air Mondays starting January 3, while new Canadian series Children Ruin Everything will air Wednesdays starting January 12. Winter premiere dates for  previously-announced U.S. series are noted on this page on CTV.ca, and appear to be in line with their American airings.
   
• Crave has quietly added The Bitch Who Stole Christmas, the holiday movie starring RuPaul and other Drag Race personalities and past contestants that premiered in the U.S. this past Friday on VH1.
  
  Meanwhile, the Drag Race semi-spinoff singing competition Queen of the Universe has landed on Paramount+, including in Canada.
   
• Citytv has picked up the two NBC sitcoms premiering with back-to-back preview episodes this week, before getting underway in earnest in January: American Auto, the new series from Superstore creator Justin Spitzer (debuting tonight [Monday] starting at 10:00 p.m. ET), and Grand Crew (Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. ET out of simulcast; airs at NBC starting at 8). That's in addition to the returning sitcoms, such as Young Rock, that have holiday specials airing this Wednesday on both networks.
   
• AMC+ has picked up rights in multiple territories, including Canada, to the Movistar+ (Spain) series La Fortuna starring Stanley Tucci, which will have a weekly rollout on Thursdays starting January 20. As with other AMC+ series, it's possible the show may eventually air on the AMC TV channel, but nothing like that is apparent from the announcement.
   
  AMC is also reclaiming the North American streaming rights to Halt and Catch Fire, which leaves Netflix in the U.S. and Canada this coming week. The four seasons of the series, which was critically acclaimed but low-rated during its original run, will roll out on Thursdays starting this week.
   
• Hayu, NBCUniversal's reality streaming service for non-U.S. territories, has picked up rights, including in Canada, to New Zealand reality series The Circus, which is about a family of circus performers, and should not be confused with the Showtime / Crave series of the same name about American politics.

Other notes

• Following up from announcements earlier this year about its U.S. pay-1 rights beginning with 2022 films, NBCUniversal has announced that most new Universal and Focus films will now stream on Peacock as soon as 45 days after theatrical release. This will include movies like The 355 and Downton Abbey: A New Era, but is unlikely to include tentpole releases like next summer's Jurassic World: Dominion or Minions: The Rise of Gru.
   
  It is not yet clear whether this will apply in Canada, where pay-1 rights to Universal films have long been held by Crave (with films currently streaming around six months after theatrical release), and there hasn't been any announcement of any changes to either the Canadian streaming rights or schedule.
   
• CBC Gem is offering a sale price of $1 (plus tax) per month for three months for new and returning subscribers to its ad-free Premium tier (regularly $4.99 per month) with promo code "HOLIDAY3". The offer runs through the end of the year but is limited to 1,900 redemptions.
   
  As a reminder, the Premium tier doesn't add any on-demand programming that wouldn't eventually be available on the free tier, but it adds live-streaming access to CBC News Network (for those who don't already have access via cable) and occasionally early streaming of select programs.

Mailbag

Here's some of the reader email we've received recently at hello@wherecaniwatch.ca. We welcome questions of general interest, and publish a few of them (and our answers) from time to time; messages may be edited for brevity and clarity.

Rion: Any news on the new Scream movie being released on streaming at the same time as theatrically, perhaps on Prime Video?

The fifth installment in the Scream franchise, confusingly officially also just called Scream, will be released in theatres on January 14 by Paramount Pictures.

Paramount's most recent major release was Snake Eyes over the summer which we believe was only in theatres to start back in August, but later went to VOD, and we don’t believe it’s available on streaming yet in Canada.

Although Paramount+ in the U.S. is getting some films from that studio about 45 days after release, there's been no indication of anything similar happening long-term in Canada. What's slightly more likely to happen for Scream in Canada is a premium VOD release about 30-45 days after release.

But as usual, not much is likely to be confirmed until well after Scream opens in cinemas, in order to protect the film's box office sales.

Shane: Do you have any information on whether Leverage: Redemption or the British show This Way Up are going to be streaming in Canada at all?

As noted above, This Way Up will be airing on Showcase starting January 6, and should be available to stream for quite some time thereafter on the Global TV app (for Showcase cable subscribers), and on Corus' StackTV channel on Prime Video.

Leverage: Redemption aired over the summer and fall on CTV Drama, and the full season is still available to stream through the CTV app for authenticated subscribers to that channel, but it has yet to show up in a way that non-cable subscribers could access the show. Depending on how the producers sold the rights, perhaps it'll be available on Crave (or another service) at a later date, possibly shortly before the second season premieres. But that's purely speculation on our part at this point.

Sarah: I was hoping to gift my parents a Crave subscription for the holidays this year. Is it possible to gift that sort of thing? If not, are there other streaming subscriptions that can be gifted?

Crave has offered both physical gift cards in various stores, and digital gift cards through its website, for quite some time. But we noticed this week that for a "limited time" (the length of which is unclear), Crave is bringing back an offer it's had in past holiday seasons, where $100 of gift card value can be purchased for 25% off, or only $75.

So, for example, you could spend $150 to get two gift cards that would cover most of the cost for a year of Crave Total ($199.90 plus tax, so the gift card user would just have to cover the tax).

The important caveat for Crave in particular is that these gift cards can only be applied to subscriptions made directly through the Crave website – not to in-app purchases, and not to TV service subscriptions. So if, for example, your parents prefer to watch TV through a Rogers or Bell set-top box, they cannot apply these gift cards to a subscription that will allow them to watch Crave's linear TV channels through their cable service.

Another thing to note, for both Crave and most other services' gift cards, is that cards are almost always now offered in dollar amounts only, not a specific length of subscription, and is not refundable. This means that the recipient will almost certainly have to spend a bit more to get full value out of the gift, or else leave part of the card value unused.

In terms of specifics for other services:

• Netflix offers gift cards that are available both online and through a variety of offline retailers. Occasionally some of these retailers offer extra incentives, like vouchers or bonus rewards points on their loyalty programs, for minimum purchase amounts. Google is also offering a version of its latest-generation Chromecast that is bundled with enough Netflix credit to make the effective price of the device about $30.
• Amazon also offers gift cards, which we expect could be applied to Amazon Prime memberships (which include access to Prime Video) or to Prime Video Channels subscriptions, but there is no specific "Gift of Prime" offering similar to what's available in the United States.
• Apple gift cards are similarly widely available and can be applied to Apple TV+ subscriptions, or to in-app subscriptions to other services like Crave on Apple devices. As with Netflix, some retailers provide bonus incentives from time to time. One specific offer we'll point out: as of this writing, Amazon.ca is promoting an upcoming offer with a bonus $10 Amazon credit on purchases of $100 or more in Apple gift cards with promo code APPLEDEC (but we're not sure how long this offer we'll last).
• Disney+ is offering the ability to buy one-year gift subscriptions for new subscribers, at the same price as it would be to sign up directly, $119.99 plus tax. We'll emphasize that this can only be used for new subscribers – it cannot be applied to an existing subscription, or even an existing account, as the terms specify the recipient must create a new Disney+ account to redeem.

(Some of these links, particularly for Amazon and Disney+, are affiliate links that may provide us with a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you.)

Recent updates on WCIW

We've added a post about Encanto, which is currently in theatres but will arrive on Disney+ later in the month. We've also updated our December guide to reflect confirmed availability of Days of our Lives: A Very Salem Christmas via StackTV later this month, as first pointed out to us by reader Rion.

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