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Canadian Streaming Service Shomi Shutting Down

Shomi, we hardly knew ye. Canadian ISPs Shaw and Rogers say they're shutting down the streaming video service after tepid interest from consumers in the offering. Originally unveiled in 2014 as yet another "Netflix killer," providing 11,000 hours of past seasons of the most popular TV shows for $9 a month. The service was first only offered to Shaw and Rogers customers before ultimately being expanded to all Canadian consumers. But the service apparently didn't sell well, and the company refused to release data on how many subscribers had signed up for the service.

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In a statement, Shomi stated that the service will formally shut down as of November 30.

“The business climate and online video marketplace have changed markedly in the last few years," states the announcement. "Combined with the fact that the business is more challenging to operate than we expected, we’ve decided to wind down our operations,” Asch said. “We’re proud of the great service we created and the role we played in the evolution of Canada’s video landscape."

One possible reason for the shift is Shaw Communications decision to sell its television channels to Corus Entertainment for $2.65 billion earlier this year, which was subsequently followed by a more intense focus more purely on wireless and wired broadband connectivity.

Historically, incumbent TV/ISP streaming movie services don't tend to make much of an impression, usually because the companies' involved have a tendency to be unwilling to offer real innovation, flexibility and pricing for fear of cannibalizing existing pay TV subscribers.

»twitter.com/shomicanada/ ··· 57391105

Most recommended from 9 comments


camelot
join:2008-04-12
Whitby, ON

2 recommendations

camelot

Member

Pfft.


"Combined with the fact that the business is more challenging to operate than we expected"

This is code for "we don't have a monopoly/duopoly, so we couldn't compete with the big boys"