Don’t shoot! We have some intel on SEAL Team in Canada

You almost have to send in Naval Special Warfare combat forces to sort out what’s going on with SEAL Team in Canada.

Ever since CBS handed the series over to its sister streaming service Paramount+ three Sundays ago, Canadians have been frustrated in their attempts to stick with Season Five beyong the fifth episode.

The good news for ViacomCBS International is that, according to the jump in traffic at this site and several comments left on a previous post, there are many fans of this series in Canada. Why then, is it not currently being offered here?

I’ve asked around and the holdup is for the usual reasons — international rights and money. Folks generally go off the record once you veer into negotiations, but here is where things likely stand, and how they might likely be resolved:

First of all, Global, a Corus Entertainment network, had the rights to show SEAL Team in Canada, but only as a simulcast of CBS’s broadcast. Once thee series stopped airing on CBS and moved exclusively to stream on Paramount+, as it did with the fifth episode of this, the fifth season, Global can no longer simulcast the series. Even if they could continue to show it, there is little incentive to do so, because as ratings are tallied in Canada, Global would lose up to half the audience that gets counted for watching the show on CBS affiliate border stations.

Paramount+ and Paramount+ Canada cover two seperate jurisdictions and, from what I’m told, operate under separate budgets and rights deals. You’d think that SEAL Team, being a CBS Studios show, would fall under the same big tent. Apparently not when it comes to landing rights in Canada.

Now, from here this is all conjecture, based on normal practices and a little insider intel. The decision to switch SEAL Team (and another series currently off screens in Canada, Evil) to a streaming-only offer came relatively late. Paramount+ Canada would need to budget for the series, and that deal was not in place at the time of the hand-off in the U.S.

Will it happen in the next quarter? Sooner? Most shows pause throughout December, especially at CBS which programs an aggressive schedule of holiday fare. My guess — and there is no official word so far — is that SEAL Team will be available to stream in Canada on Paramount+ come the new year.

If that doesn’t happen, however, please do not send special forces to my door. Don’t shoot the messenger!

By the way, the next episode of the series, airing Nov. 21st in the States and titled, “Conspicuous Gallantry,” has been directed by David Boreanaz.