LAS VEGAS – “Cable companies find it hard to accept that people don’t just want to watch TV in the living room anymore,” said Jay Mehr, EVP and COO of Shaw Communications as it announced the launch of its FreeRange app Wednesday at the Consumer Electronics Show.
The app makes content instantly available to subscribers no matter where they are and Mehr (pictured) told a gathering of industry partners and press that the cable company had partnered with Comcast and Cisco to leverage Comcast's X1 platform to provide a truly disruptive mobile experience by providing live and on-demand offerings in a single app, free to Shaw's 2.6 million customers.
The move will also bring the company to a more even footing with its primary competitor Telus, whose Optik TV also lets customers take their content with them.
Mehr told Cartt.ca that Shaw has acknowledged “that we are not in control anymore, the consumer is in control.” The move to create FreeRange comes after “15 months of planning and collaboration with Comcast” and that it plans to expand the offerings and capabilities of FreeRange in the coming months.
Subscribers who download the Android or iOS version of the app now can access more than 80 live channels and thousands of on-demand titles. By comparison, Shomi, the subscription video on demand service jointly owned by Rogers Communications and Shaw, does not include live linear channels. Live content viewed through the FreeRange app will be through a number of data centre sites located in the U.S., including those owned by Shaw subsidiary ViaWest.
Cisco announced separately that Shaw is using Cisco’s Open Media Distribution platform to simplify content delivery network operations for the new FreeRange TV service. Part of Cisco’s Virtualized Video Processing Platform, it’s a flexible Content Delivery Network (CDN) solution for delivering multiscreen video experiences to managed and unmanaged devices. Cisco VNI forecasts that by 2019, 80% of IP traffic crossing service provider networks will be video and 42% will be viewed across mobile devices.
“Shaw was looking for a scalable CDN solution that could help them quickly manage the huge growth in video traffic on their networks, reduce costs, and generate new revenue from the wholesale CDN opportunity,” said Conrad Clemson, senior vice president and general manager, Cisco service provider video software and solutions.
Mehr said the FreeRange app, which brings together all their content in one space, is expected to particularly appeal to consumers who until now have had to scramble to download a number of apps in order to view linear TV and other programming to which they already subscribe. (While the app does contain shomi – which is a Rogers and Shaw co-owned platform – it does not include other OTT services such as Netflix. A prior version of this story said Netflix was included with the app. Cartt.ca regrets the error.)
The decision to partner with Comcast began last June when Shaw scrapped plans to build its own IPTV platform and took a $55-million writedown in the process. In July 2014, Cogeco Cable was forced to make a similar writedown for $32-million when it abandoned its in-house IPTV project and decided instead to bring the TiVo service to its subscribers in Quebec and Ontario.
Mehr added Shaw has changed from an engineering driven company to one that is customer focused and responsive their needs, but in order to provide next generation video delivery solutions, they realized they had to find a partner with the resources and expertise to make it happen. Comcast, which had already developed its proven X1 cloud-based platform that integrates live TV, on-demand and recorded content in one interface, was the ideal candidate. With the announcement, Shaw joins Cox Communications as the second major North American cable company to license X1.
Shaw’s launch of FreeRange is clearly intended to retain its existing subscriber base and stop the migration of its customers to less expensive, more convenient Web-based services. But to get free FreeRange you have to be an existing Shaw subscriber. Going forward, it will be interesting to see how Shaw will appeal to budget-conscious customers who fear costly cable-TV bundles and who will be looking for less expensive a-la-carte access options.
Content carriers such as Shaw have been ordered by the CRTC to allow consumers to pick and pay for the Canadian and US TV channels they want starting this year. Is it only a matter of time before Shaw launches a pay version of FreeRange?
Major cable providers south of the border have been providing a la carte options for some time now. Comcast announced its Stream service last July which offers its customers what it calls "skinny bundles” like Internet Plus, and developed services that cater to students, like Xfinity on Campus.
