It was smiles all around at The Movie Network and Movie Central — and even at their competition — on Monday after plans were unveiled for HBO Canada.

TMN’s John Riley hopes the U.S. brand will attract more subscribers to his pay-TV channel and to its Western Canada mirror image, Movie Central, sending more money in turn to Canuck producers.

‘It’s good for us, and it’s good for the Canadian production industry,’ Riley, president and CEO of TMN parent Astral Television Networks, tells Playback Daily. ‘As our subscribers grow, [32% of] the revenue derived from it, under our licence, goes to fund Canadian production.’

The expanded deal between Astral, Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central and HBO — arriving the morning after it and other cable outlets cleaned up at the Emmy Awards — will see previously unavailable genres including comedy specials, live concerts and documentaries available on HBO Canada starting on Oct. 30.

‘We had the dramatic programming… but [were] not as close to the HBO experience as we could be,’ said Riley. ‘Now we’re pulling everything together on one channel and drawing greater attention to our service.’

Super Channel boss Malcolm Knox also sounds pleased, even though his rival channel has, since launching last year, struggled to distinguish itself from the TMN/MC duopoly — which now enjoys an even stronger hand-in-glove relationship with the U.S. giant.

The arrival of HBO Canada ‘will increase awareness and hopefully stimulate more interest in premium television, which will be good for all of us,’ says the president of Alberta-based Allarco Entertainment, which owns Super Channel.

He adds that his startup may also benefit in circumstances when TMN/MC and Super Channel are offered as part of a package for a reduced fee from carriers such as Rogers and Star Choice.

HBO Canada replaces M More — one of five TMN channels that also include MFest and MFun — and MC4 in the Movie Central suite of channels. All HBO content currently available on the main TMN/MC channels, such as drama series True Blood and Big Love, will be moved to HBO Canada.

TMN/MC did not need CRTC approval for the launch, and will continue to meet current conditions of their licences, which require them to air 30% Cancon from 6 p.m. to 11p.m., and 25% the rest of the day.

‘[The deal] doesn’t mean less Canadian programming on our network — the new foreign programming just means fewer repeats of other foreign programs we have,’ Riley points out. He adds that Canadian feature films and series such as Durham County and Terminal City will fit in well with the HBO brand.

HBO Canada is available for free to current subscribers of TMN/MC.