LA SCREENINGS: Why it’s getting tougher for Canadian broadcasters to buy online rights

By etan vlessing

CANADIAN BROADCASTERS HEADED to the Los Angeles Screenings this week will be buying rookie U.S. shows much as they have in the past: By choosing possible primetime hits via output and multiyear deals with Hollywood studio suppliers.But in among the horse-trading for new American dramas and comedies this year will be a new battlefield for Canadian networks needing new revenue streams to outrun falling conventional TV ad sales: the fight for digital platform rights.And even before top players like Bell Media, Shaw Media and Rogers Media do their studio rounds this week to view new pilots on offer, there's already...