Canadian cable MSO, Rogers Communications, has now officially launched Rogers On Demand Online, its initial implementation of the "TV Everywhere" distribution model, following a beta period that began last November (note: the "TV Everywhere" distribution model--which was originally championed by Time Warner chairman and CEO, Jeff Bewkes--seeks, via authentication technology, to make programming that pay-TV customers have already paid for through their cable, satellite or IPTV subscriptions available to those customers on multiple Web sites and platforms, and thus aims to head off the threat posed to pay-TV services by the increasing availability of over-the-top programming). According to the company, the service--which is powered by technology from Comcast-owned broadband video platform provider, thePlatform--is marking its official launch by rolling out various enhancements and increasing its content line-up.
The service's new features and content offerings, Rogers says, include:
- Live streaming capabilities.
- 1,500 hours of content (as opposed to 1,000 hours during the service's beta period), including Web-exclusive live streaming of concerts and sporting events. Rogers says it has added 19 channels to the 20 or so content partners that participated in the beta. Its new content partners include The Cineplex Channel, Shorts in the City, Saturday Night Live (Global), urMusic, WildTV, Equator HD, Rush HD, The Filipino Channel, Oasis HD, andPOP, WFN: World Fishing Network, and Treasure HD.
- New community and social tools, including commenting, rating, sharing (via Facebook, Twitter, email and other services), and playlists.
- Improved functionality and higher-resolution viewing.
- Accessibility options, including an audio challenge-response decoder for registration/authentication.
While TV Everywhere services are ultimately envisioned as making programming available to authenticated pay-TV subscribers on multiple Web sites and platforms, Rogers On Demand Online is currently accessible only via a dedicated Web site, rogersondemand.com, that allows Rogers customers to authenticate themselves using their Rogers account information--though the company has previously revealed plans to eventually offer the service on smartphones and game consoles (note: the service can be accessed through any broadband connection in Canada). While much of the service's content is also available to Rogers' wireless, landline and high-speed Internet customers (note: in addition, a small sampling of content is available to any Canadian with a broadband connection, including non-Rogers customers), Rogers says that its digital cable customers can use it to "watch many of the same subscription-based specialty channels online as they have through their television account." The company promises that it will be making additional "programming announcements with major partners" over the coming weeks.
