HBO Canada

HBO Canada is a Canadian premium cable and satellite television channel that is primarily devoted to original programming and special events sourced from the HBO and Cinemax subscription services in the United States, as well as domestic motion pictures.

HBO Canada is not available as a standalone channel, but as one multiplex channel within two regional premium television services: The Movie Network (TMN), which is available in Eastern Canada, and Movie Central, which is offered in Western and Northern Canada. Territorial broadcast rights to HBO Canada by either service within the provinces are separated at the Ontario-Manitoba border (Movie Central holds rights to the west of that border and TMN holds rights to the east of the border).

As different multiplex channels of a single pay service cannot have separate sets of owners, each service's parent company (Bell Media for TMN, Corus Entertainment for Movie Central) officially retains full ownership of the HBO Canada channel in their respective territories. However, in practice the channel is jointly managed by both companies, and thus the HBO Canada schedule is common to both services, except that TMN's feed of the channel operates on an Eastern Time Zone schedule while Movie Central feeds the same programming two hours later on Mountain Time.

Canada

Coordinates: 60°N 95°W / 60°N 95°W / 60; -95

Canada (ⁱ/ˈkænədə/; French: [ka.na.da]) is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres (3.85 million square miles), making it the world's second-largest country by total area and the fourth-largest country by land area. Canada's border with the United States is the world's longest land border. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land territory being dominated by forest and tundra and the Rocky Mountains; about four-fifths of the country's population of 35 million people live near the southern border. The majority of Canada has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer.

The land now called Canada has been inhabited for millennia by various Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the 15th century, British and French colonies were established on the Atlantic coast, with the first establishment of a region called "Canada" occurring in 1537. As a consequence of various conflicts, the United Kingdom gained and lost territories within British North America until left, in the late 18th century, with what mostly geographically comprises Canada today. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1, 1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia joined to form the autonomous federal Dominion of Canada. This began an accretion of provinces and territories to the self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. In 1931, Canada achieved near total independence from the United Kingdom with the Statute of Westminster 1931, and full sovereignty was attained when the Canada Act 1982 removed the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the British parliament.

HBO

HBO (Home Box Office) is an American premium cable and satellite television network that is owned by Home Box Office Inc., the cable flagship division of Time Warner. HBO's programming consists primarily of theatrically released motion pictures and original television series, along with made-for-cable movies and documentaries, boxing matches and occasional stand-up comedy and concert specials.

It is the oldest and longest continuously operating pay television service (basic or premium) in the United States, having been in operation since November 8, 1972. In 2014, HBO had an adjusted operating income of US$1.79 billion, compared to the US$1.68 billion it accrued in 2013.

Overview

As of July 2015, HBO's programming is available to approximately 36,483,000 households with at least one television set (31.3% of all cable, satellite and telco customers) in the United States (36,013,000 subscribers or 30.9% of all households with pay television service receive at least HBO's primary channel), making it the second largest premium channel in the United States (Encore's programming reaches 40.54 million pay television households as of July 2015). In addition to its U.S. subscriber base, HBO broadcasts in at least 151 countries, covering approximately 122 million subscribers worldwide.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, often abridged as Last Week Tonight, is an American late-night talk and news satire television program airing on Sundays on HBO in the United States and HBO Canada, and on Mondays (originally Tuesdays) on Sky Atlantic in the United Kingdom. The half-hour long show premiered on Sunday, April 27, 2014, and is hosted by comedian John Oliver. Last Week Tonight shares some similarities with Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, where Oliver was previously featured as a correspondent and fill-in host, as it takes a satirical look at news, politics and current events on a weekly basis.

Oliver has said that he has full creative freedom, including free rein to criticize corporations. His initial contract with HBO was for two years with an option for extension. In February 2015, it was announced that the show has been renewed for two additional seasons of 35 episodes each. Oliver and HBO programming president Michael Lombardo have discussed extending the show from half an hour to a full hour and airing more than once a week after Oliver "gets his feet under him".

The Crash Reel

The Crash Reel is a documentary film directed by Lucy Walker which premiered as the Opening Night Gala film on 19 January 2013 at the Sundance Film Festival.

Lucy first met Kevin Pearce while mentoring at a retreat intended to inspire Nike's action sports athletes to use their platform for social change at the invitation of David Mayer de Rothschild who had created the event. Lucy was immediately struck by Kevin and wanted to make a documentary film about him, and the result is The Crash Reel, which premiered at Sundance on January 18, 2013 as the Opening Night Gala film in the Documentary Premieres section (out of competition).

The film is described as a jaw-dropping story of one unforgettable athlete, Kevin Pearce; one eye-popping sport, snowboarding; and one explosive issue, traumatic brain injury. Through 20 years of sports and verite footage, The Crash Reel chronicles the epic rivalry between Kevin and Shaun White which culminates in Kevin's life-changing crash and a comeback story with a difference. The film also showcases the Pearce family, including Kevin's father glass-blower Simon Pearce and Kevin's brother David C. Pearce who describes his struggle to accept his Down Syndrome.