Canadian MSO Rogers Communications, which in November launched a beta TV Everywhere product, officially has rolled out Rogers On Demand Online service for subscribers and non-subscribers to get access to a portion of the company's available programming online in Canada.
Rogers ODO, which has been expanding its programming base since it launched in beta, so far has been met with, un-Canadian-like reserve at best. Posts on the Rogers Communications blog have included complaints about access, quality of the video and programming content.
Rogers says the service will continue to improve, pointing out that since going live it has improved video quality from its beta offering and signed a major deal with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to bring more content online as well as to cable subscribers.
Rogers said the official launch of the On Demand Online platform includes:
- Social features that will allow users to to talk about a show on the website, as well as rate and share the video via numerous social media sites or email.
- The ability for users to make playlists to help organize favorite videos.
- Adding more content; some 1,500 hours of video content is available, including web-exclusive live streaming of concerts and world sporting events for Rogers' customers. The MSO also has added programming from Saturday Night Live (Global), urMusic, WildTV, Equator HD, Rush HD, Treasure HD, The Filipino Channel, Oasis HD, WFN: World Fishing Network, andPOP, Citytv.com's Shorts in the City, and The Cineplex Channel featuring movie trailers.
Rogers isn't requiring consumers to register--or be subscribers--to access a large portion of the content, but customers will have access to exclusive content such as live streaming of upcoming sporting events, concerts and web-only programming and online access to premium channels.
For more:
- see this release
- see Rogers Communications blog
Related articles:
Canadian cableco Rogers working with thePlatform on OV initiative
Canadian cable company Rogers goes live with On Demand Online