The mega-success of Heated Rivalry has buyers asking what is coming next from Crave, the Canadian streamer that greenlit the ice hockey romance hit.
The streamer is part of Bell Media, and company President Sean Cohan is backing Canadian producers to produce the next Heated Rivalry as Canadian content becomes hot international property.
The next season of the sports show drops in 2027. Cast members have hinted at a third run for the steamy series, which Cohan says is “the biggest global hit that Canada’s ever produced,” and there is more source material from which to work. He is not ready to definitively confirm or deny a third outing, but there does appear to be a direction of travel. “In success, this show continues,” he says.
Cohan is more definitive on the future of Crave, which he says, historically, was an under-marketed and under-utilized gem. Offering a slate of Canadian originals differentiates Crave from the U.S.-owned streamers, and HBO programming adds premium U.S. firepower. Bell’s pact for HBO fare has been extended, and Cohan says it runs into the 2030s.
Heated Rivalry delivered on Bell’s promise to generate shows that resonate locally and go global, with the associated financial and reputational benefits. That was one of former A+E exec Cohan’s goals when he joined the Canadian content giant in late 2023.
“We talked about making great global and profitable shows and about elevating the Canadian creative brand, which has been misunderstood or underestimated,” he says. “Bell Media spends a ton domestically on Canada-made content and the question was: Why can’t we make that in a way that exports around the world? And then we went and did it.”
Boosted by Heated Rivalry, Crave recorded just over 5 million subs in Bell’s most recent results, and is eyeing 6 million by end of 2028, but Cohan is thinking beyond that. He wants the streamer to be in half of Canadian TV homes by the end of 2029. “The new target that we have in our mind is closer to one in two,” he says. In a market with an estimated 15.8 million TV homes, that means Crave will need to continue its growth trajectory to hit its numbers.
Hudson Williams’ next turn
The next big thing in-the-making is Yaga, which features Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams alongside Carrie-Anne Moss in a witchy folklore drama set in a coastal town called Whittock. The series will be heavily promoted at MIPCOM. Other Crave shows coming to the international market include queer softball drama Slo Pitch and Meatballs, inspired by the eponymous Bill Murray movie and starring Robbie G.K., another Heated alum. There is also Bulges, set in a Hooters-like bar, but where the staff are all male, and with Saved by the Bell star Mark-Paul Gosselaar starring. Sphere Abacus, the distributor that Bell acquired last year, is selling them all.
“Canadian content was already on the rise — you had shows like [Fremantle-distributed] Sullivan’s Crossing, which had gone to The CW in the U.S. and Netflix around the world,” says Sphere Abacus Managing Director Jonathan Ford. “Heated Rivalry really increased that, and that led to channels and platforms around the world always wanting to know what the next big thing is coming out of Canada and, particularly, Crave.”
Ford, an international distribution veteran, adds: “Canadian programming can fit with different audiences. Some storylines feel relevant to the U.S. market, perhaps more so than some British storylines and accents, but it’s also relevant to the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, and the quality of the shows appeals to the European markets too.”
Heated Rivalry made Williams, along with Connor Storrie, a global star and Sphere Abacus has pre-sold Yaga to AMC in the U.S., Sky in the U.K. and HBO Max in continental Europe, among others.
“The sales were done off the script and casting, partly because the storyline and casting of Yaga are so strong, but also there’s an element of having wind in the sails from Heated Rivalry,” says Ford.
While Heated Rivalry set a high benchmark, now the heat is on for Crave and Sphere Abacus to deliver more made-in-Canada hits.
English (US) ·