TORONTO – The slick-looking user interface of the new shomi service from Rogers and Shaw is purported to be one of the key differentiating features that will allow it to compete against other SVoD players, especially indomitable Netflix.
During its official announcement on Tuesday, Rogers Media president Keith Pelley described shomi’s “really spectacular” user interface as “far superior” to that of any other SVoD service.
“When you actually take a look at the product, it has taken a significant amount of time to actually build the user interface, to have a kind of ‘attitude’ on the user interface and to…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Finally putting an end to months of speculation over plans to launch a Canadian subscription video-on-demand service, Rogers Media and joint-venture partner Shaw Media announced the highly anticipated SVoD service, dubbed shomi, in Toronto on Tuesday.
Cartt.ca broke the story in January that Rogers was working on an over-the-top video portal, but despite being continually pressed on the subject, until today, Rogers execs wouldn’t comment publically on the service other than Rogers CEO Guy Laurence’s recent cryptic allusion to the “Loch Ness Monster”.
And Cartt.ca doesn’t want to take it personally that Rogers and Shaw decided to officially…
Continue Reading
TORONTO and CALGARY – Canada’s new subscription video-on-demand service showmi is coming to tablets, mobile, online, and Xbox 360 in early November for $8.99 per month.
The joint venture, owned equally by Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications, will launch in beta first to Rogers and Shaw Internet or TV customers. The service is being officially unveiled Tuesday in Toronto, and Cartt.ca will be there.
Featuring more than 11,000 hours of prior seasons of TV series like Modern Family, Sons of Anarchy, Sleepy Hollow, Shameless, 2 Broke Girls, Vikings, New Girl, 24: Live Another Day, Chicago Fire, The Strain, and American Horror Story, the service will…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Rogers and Shaw are set to reveal their new over-the-top video portal, known as Showmi, at an event Tuesday morning in Toronto. According to our sources, the service could be ready to launch as early as November (but announcing it officially now, just prior to the CRTC television policy hearing, is no mistake).
As Cartt.ca was first report early this year, the service was conceived as the Canadian answer to Netflix or Hulu, a one-stop online space where TV and film content whose Canadian rights – owned by Rogers Media, Shaw Media, Bell Media and Cineplex – would…
Continue Reading
CALGARY – Shaw Communications said Monday that it is expanding access to its Shaw Go WiFi guest network in Sault Ste. Marie, ON for the next few weeks.
Beginning immediately and continuing until September 14, all residents will be able to access Shaw's WiFi network at the almost 460 hotspots across the city for free, regardless of whether they are Shaw customers or not.
Residents who are not Shaw customers can connect to the network by selecting "ShawGuest" on the list of available WiFi hot spots at participating city facilities and following the steps to register their devices. Registration for the…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – A group of Canadian television viewers and consumer-oriented organizations says that it’s time for the CRTC to change the way it regulates the broadcasting system; this time, by putting Canadians, and not a specific industry, front and centre.
“The broadcasting system – and its business and regulation – must move back towards one that serves Canadians,” reads an intervention by the Groups for the Public Interest to the Commission’s Let’s Talk TV Conversation with Canadians.
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre, Consumers’ Association of Canada, Council of Senior Citizens Organizations of British Columbia, National Pensioners Federation, Option consommateurs and Canadian…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Bell, Rogers and Videotron have some explaining to do over the way that they charge customers for live and on-demand television programming on mobile applications.
According to a Globe and Mail report, the CRTC has asked the three big providers a series of questions about their respective apps, such as how many subscribers the services have, how much data they tend to use, and how exactly the content is delivered.
The report raises the issue of net neutrality, noting that the apps allow viewers to use their smartphone or tablet to watch up to 10 hours per month of…
Continue Reading
HOPES WERE HIGH EARLIER this year when word leaked out that an ambitious over-the-top video partnership aimed at taking on Netflix in Canada (dubbed “Showmi”) was soon to launch. Cartt.ca was the first to report on it and we have been following it through the year.
The service was to be a one-stop online space where TV and film content whose Canadian rights – owned by Rogers Media, Shaw Media, Bell Media and Cineplex – would be stacked and available to Canadians for binge watching anywhere, anytime and…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Newsmagazine entertainment program ET Canada will mark its 10th season next month, promising more exclusives, more specials and even more celebrity.
Beginning September 2 at 7:30 PM ET/PT on Global, the show will revisit memorable celebrity interviews, blooper moments from behind the scenes, and ‘Star Evolutions’ featuring Hollywood's biggest names from their humble beginnings to superstardom. Fridays will host ‘The Ten List’ covering a countdown of topics including host's fashion faux pas, celebrity mug shots, and the best New Year's Eve moments.
Hosts Cheryl Hickey, Rick Campanelli and Roz Weston will continue to serve up entertainment's latest scoop, along with…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Rogers Communications and Corus Entertainment have told the CRTC that it must reconsider the usefulness of Terms of Trade (ToT) agreement between broadcasters and independent producers in creating independent Canadian programming. On the other hand, the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) argues that in a new broadcast environment with greater pick and pay options ToT will become increasingly important.
In their respective interventions to the Commission’s Let’s Talk TV Conversation with Canadians, Rogers and Corus claim that ToT (a deal hard-fought for by the CMPA and others which was developed and demanded over a number of years) is…
Continue Reading
