Rogers Nabs ‘The Orville’ and ‘Ghosted’ at L.A. Screenings

Canadian broadcaster Rogers Media on Tuesday unwrapped its latest U.S. series buys and Fall TV campaign to local advertisers.

In all, Rogers picked up five new comedies and four dramas at the recent Los Angeles Screenings, having bought a slate from 20th Century Fox Television that includes The Orville, starring Seth MacFarlane; the Will Ferrell exec-produced LA to Vegas; Ghosted; the medical drama The Resident; and Speechless, a co-production with ABC Studios.

The Canadian net also nabbed The Blacklist, starring James Spader, the reality competition series Dancing With the Stars and the event series Rent and A Christmas Story. Rogers operates the City network and a string of cable channels including FX Canada.

Like rivals Bell Media and Corus Entertainment, Rogers came back from the Los Angeles Screenings with new and returning U.S. network series to distribute across its growing Internet, mobile phone and tablet platforms. The Canadians also face new competition in the Canadian market from U.S. streamers like Amazon Prime Video and Shudder, as each goes up against dominant player Netflix Canada.

Rogers’ own annual shopping expedition in Hollywood followed Joe Natale recently replacing Guy Laurence as president and CEO of parent Rogers Communications, and the phone and cable giant making a wrong-way bet on Shomi, a local SVOD competing against Netflix Canada that has since closed down, and making costly investments in Vice Media and NHL TV rights.

Returning series at Rogers include The Bachelor franchise, New Girl, Modern Family, Mom, Scorpion and Family Guy.

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