Tag Archives: Shomi

Link: CRTC chairman knocks Rogers, Shaw for axing video streaming service Shomi

From Emily Jackson of the Financial Post:

Link: CRTC chairman knocks Rogers, Shaw for axing video streaming service Shomi
Jean-Pierre Blais, the head of Canada’s telecom regulator, took a swipe at two telecommunications giants for killing their nascent video streaming service in an age in which the Internet has disrupted traditional platforms and the “viewer is emperor.”

In a speech in Ottawa Wednesday, Blais revealed he was shocked at the September news that Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. planned to shutter Shomi, a joint venture in which the cable companies had sunk hundreds of millions of dollars. Continue reading. 

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Comments and queries for the week of September 30

Wild Archaeology in the U.S.?

Do you know if this is available online for U.S. watchers? —Courtney

We’re not sure if it’s geo-blocked or not, but try streaming Wild Archaeology on APTN’s website.


Tickets to The Goods?

Would I be able to get tickets to The Goods next Thursday? —Nicki

Follow the link to The Goods website and order your free tickets.


CraveTV continues to grow, Shomi shuts down

I think that both Crave TV and Shomi had to expect it would take a few years to grow. Netflix has had six years. It’s an expensive game to get into but it’s a necessary one. People are cord-cutting because they are finding stuff for free online and getting free TV streaming devices. I’ve said it before, but the only thing keeping me from cord-cutting is that I’m only allowed 20GB a month of data thanks to my only option of satellite Internet and my desire to watch Winnipeg Jets and the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Olympics. I’m actually thinking of moving to a nearby town that has unlimited Internet access, so I’m seriously considering it. If TSN releases an app of their own, I’d go with that for sure. Maybe TSN could somehow integrate with CraveTV? That would be an attractive feature, the ability to stream games. People would for sure go with it. I have Netflix Canada (I got tired of trying to keep switching it to Netflix U.S.) but truthfully, after having it for a while, you eventually watch most of what you want to watch on it, you need supplementary stuff so that’s why I had Shomi too. I actually subscribed to Shomi to watch specific shows, but stayed because I saw other shows I like. CraveTV has more shows I like, though. I’m still waiting for it to be made available on Xbox Live. —Alicia

Hulu have locked themselves out since they sold most of the shows to CTV/Global/City. In the States, CBS and The CW are doing their own streamers which somewhat have the same problem. You can sense Amazon is circling here. In addition to the links, they already do things with Prime that Netflix never will and smaller U.S. channels like Starz with Outlander and USA Network with Mr. Robot don’t have the resources to launch here directly themselves, they already sent their shows to Amazon UK. It’s only a matter of time. They just upped the minimum free shipping to $35. You know they know Canadians consider Amazon Canada overpriced and inferior and Prime Video would only help them. The thing is, can/would Rogers/Shaw just sell over the shows to Amazon? They’d recover some of the loss but they aren’t always known for doing things like that.

HBO and Showtime are much longer, depending on how long the recent deals with Bell are but eventually I don’t think they’d renew it rather than just stream directly to Canada themselves. The only funny bit is Bosch being an Amazon show on CraveTV somehow; though I believe Netflix officially launched in Australia while a local channel had Orange is the New Black and they just waited out the contract before putting it on Netflix Australia, so something like that could happen perhaps. —DanAmazing

 

Got a question or comment about Canadian TV? Email greg.david@tv-eh.com or via Twitter @tv_eh.

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Link: CraveTV ’continues to grow:’ Bell CEO

From Steve Lambert of The Canadian Press:

Link: CraveTV ’continues to grow’: Bell CEO
The president and CEO of Bell Canada is expressing confidence in his company’s streaming video service even as a competitor in the Netflix-dominated field prepares to shut down.

“There’s no change in the status of CraveTV,” George Cope said in an interview Tuesday with The Canadian Press. Continue reading.

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Link: Why Shomi failed and why CraveTV is next

From Peter Nowak of Alphabeatic:

Link: Why shomi failed and why CraveTV is next
The Canadian streaming scene will get a little darker come the end of November, when Shomi closes its virtual doors. Unless, of course, someone else comes along before then to fill the void, but that’s a post for another time.

In the meantime, we’re left to puzzle out what happened to what was supposed to be Netflix’s biggest competitor in Canada. Continue reading.

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