Canada’s Shaw & Rogers Team for Streaming Service

August 26, 2014 World Screen Top Stories

TORONTO/CALGARY: Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications have partnered on a new SVOD service for the Canadian market, shomi, positioned as a competitor to Netflix.

shomi is launching in beta first to Rogers and Shaw Internet TV customers. It will initially be available on tablets, mobile, online, Xbox 360 and set-top boxes. At launch, there is expected to be 14,000 episodes and titles; 11,000 hours of TV shows; 1,200 movies; and 340 TV series. Of this, around 30 percent is poised to be Canadian content. The service is expected to begin streaming in the first week of November.

“We’ve taken the time to talk with Canadians to find out what they want and to create an unbelievable user experience,” said Keith Pelley, the president of Rogers Media. “They told us loud and clear—they want all the past seasons of the most popular, current TV shows and they want it to be easy. shomi takes the guesswork out of finding what to watch, acting like a new-age video clerk serving up all the best content based on individual viewing habits.”

“We keenly understand the media landscape is rapidly changing and that viewers are looking for greater flexibility when it comes to what they watch and how they watch it,” added Barbara Williams, the senior VP of content at Shaw Media. “shomi is our first step into the new world of content streaming and we’re so pleased to be able to bring this made-in-Canada service to the market.”