Bell Media, BBC Worldwide ink deal for Doctor Who
BBC Worldwide and Bell Media have inked a multiplatform licensing agreement that will see CraveTV acquire the exclusive streaming rights to Doctor Who in Canada. With the ninth season of the show set to land on the streamer this summer, the first eight seasons will also become available on Crave before the end of 2016. In addition, the agreement sees Space secure the broadcast rights to season 10 of the series, which will also stream on Crave once the season’s broadcast run ends.

IMAX releases Q4 numbers
IMAX Corp has reported revenues of $119.3 million for Q4 of 2015, a 16.5% increase from the same period in 2014. The company’s reported earnings for Q4 were $27.3 million,  a 12.6% increase over the same period a year prior. Per-screen in Q4, IMAX posted a 9% growth, with the average screen taking $318,600 during the quarter. For the whole year of 2015, the theatre company reported a 13.2% increase in per-screen revenues to $1,155,800. Company CEO Richard L. Gelfond said in a statement that the increase was partially attributable to the “global trend in the film industry to make more big-budget blockbuster movies.”

VSC takes Canadian rights to Tickled
Toronto distributor Video Services Corp has acquired the Canadian rights to Magnolia Pictures documentary Tickled. The deal, which was made during Berlin International Film Festival’s European Film Market, was negotiated between Magnolia’s head of worldwide sales Christina Rogers and VP of international sales Scott Veltri and VSC’s Jonathan Gross. The doc charts the investigation by reporter David Farrier into the world of “competitive endurance tickling.” After seeing a video online, Farrier digs a little deeper and uncovers a sinister world of secret identities and criminal activity.  

Tattersall members win CAS award for Fargo
Tattersall Sound & Picture’s Kirk Lynds and Martin Lee have won the Cinema Audio Society (CAS) Award’s Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Television Movie or Mini-Series. The re-recording mixers won the award for their work on Fargo, season two, episode five. The 52^nd edition of the CAS Awards took place The Crystal Ballroom of The Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.

CSA presenters announced
The presenters for the 2016 Canadian Screen Awards are being announced thick and fast, with Lyriq Bent, Jacob Tremblay, Christopher Plummer, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Jay Baruchel, Seán Cullen, Vinay Virmani and Rick Mercer all set to appear. The awards will take place at Toronto’s Sony Centre for the Performing Arts on Sunday, March 13. The show will be broadcast live on CBC-TV at 8pm. 

Hot Docs travels down under with Palace Cinemas
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival  has partnered with Australian movie theater chain Palace Cinemas to launch the Hot Docs at Palace Cinemas festival this summer. Under the deal, the entertainment group will bring Australian premieres of a curated selection of Hot Docs films to screens across Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. Venues will include Sydney’s Chauvel Cinema from June 21 to July 3; Melbourne’s Palace Westgarth from June 14 to 26; and Canberra’s Palace Electric from June 15 to 26. The idea was pitched to both Hot Docs and Palace Cinemas by the latter’s artistic director Richard Moore in an attempt to showcase more quality films across Australian screens.

– with files from Realscreen