A guide to Canadian streaming services

[Sal]

We have our versions of Hulu and Netflix up here in Canada, but they're not very good --- and there's more coming:


This is from the Toronto Sun, June 14, 2018:


Move over Netflix: A guide to new streaming services in Canada from CBS All Access to CTV Vault


Steve Tilley, Special to Postmedia Network


The end is near for traditional TV in Canada. Well, sort of. More or less. It’s complicated, see.

The decline of cable TV and the rise of cord-cutting isn’t exactly news – streaming services like Netflix have been making huge gains year over year, while cable and satellite subscriber numbers have been dipping since 2010.

And according to an annual breakdown of North American TV habits by the smart marketing folks at Convergence Research Group, Canadian households with streaming service subscriptions will outnumber those with cable TV by the end of 2020.

As the tide continues to turn, more and more streaming services are headed our way. Some of them come with caveats, though: you have to be a cable subscriber to access them. So that’s how the cable companies are trying to stay in the game. Sneaky sneaky!

Here’s a look at the current crop of streaming newcomers.

CBS All Access Canada (available now)

The recent arrival of CBS’s $5.99 per month streaming service in Canada gives cord-cutters a way to watch shows like Survivor, SEAL Team, The Good Fight, the eight different varieties of NCIS and many more.

Unfortunately, the one CBS show some of us would pay $5.99 to see – Star Trek: Discovery – isn’t available on CBS All Access Canada, because the rights are exclusive to CTV. Most illogical, captain.

CTV Movies / CTV Vault (coming fall 2018)

Speaking of CTV, the Bell Media-owned network is in the process of creating a digital “super-hub” that will be home to all its on-demand streaming content. This will include two new streaming video offerings, CTV Movies and CTV Vault, featuring Sony Pictures films and older shows like Community and Rescue Me.

It sounds like much of the content on the so-called super-hub will be for “authenticated subscribers,” which is network-speak for “people still paying for cable and not dirty cord-cutter scum” (although CTV says CTV Movies and CTV Vault will be ad-supported and free to consumers.) Bell also offers the quite good CraveTV service for $7.99 per month, which includes fare like The Handmaid’s Tale, older seasons of HBO shows and – yay! – Star Trek: Discovery.

Citytv NOW / FX NOW (coming September 2018)

Like CTV, Rogers-owned Citytv is launching its own on-demand streaming service called Citytv NOW, with current episodes and all previous seasons of its programming lineup. A similar service carrying the FX Canada slate of shows, called FX NOW, will have American Horror Story, Atlanta, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and more.

The double-whammy is that Rogers says these new streaming services will be “ad-supported and subscriber authenticated,” which means you have to already have cable and be cool with watching commercials. Bleah.

Ice Surfing (coming October 2018)

Sportsnet, another Rogers property, is doing something a little different, streaming-wise. The network is teaming up with Twitter to launch Ice Surfing, a live weekly show that will be broadcast – if that’s even the right word – on Twitter during the 2018 – 2019 NHL season.

A three-hour pilot episode of Ice Surfing in March drew more than 600,000 viewers, according to Sportsnet. The show will include live interviews, interaction with Twitter followers and up-to-the-minute scores.

Disney’s yet-to-be-named streaming service (coming in 2019)

Though details remain slim, the Walt Disney Company is forging ahead with plans to launch its own competitor to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and the like. The service will be home to a sizeable chunk of the massive Disney catalogue – including Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars movies – as well as new, exclusive films and TV series.

It’s not set to launch until 2019, and it remains to be seen whether the service will even be available in Canada from the get-go.

All those other awesome U.S. streaming services we don’t have

We probably shouldn’t hold our collective breath for U.S. delicacies like HBO Go, Hulu Plus and so on. Because of all the rights and exclusivity entanglements with Canadian cable providers and existing Canadian streaming services, these are a long way off. But we can still dream, can’t we?

[GordonQuid2002]

Did CTV Movies and CTV Vault will features made-for-television movies from Sony's library and CTV Original Movies from the 90s/2000s ?

[Sal]

Originally Posted by GordonQuid2002

Did CTV Movies and CTV Vault will features made-for-television movies from Sony's library and CTV Original Movies from the 90s/2000s ?

According to the article, that is just what CTV intends to do. I talked about this last month while I was reviewing CTV's fall lineup:

While CTV and Bell Media made very little changes to their programming schedule, at today's upfronts they announced a major restructuring to their specialty channels and digital content. One of their long-time channels Comedy Gold was sold last year to a group called WOW Entertainment, which is expected to rebrand it as a children's station later this fall. Four other specialty channels will also get a major rebranding from Bell, with the new names representing the types of programming that will be offered, in what they hope will lead to a new and improved channel group. SPACE will become CTV Sci-Fi, GUSTO will be CTV Life, Bravo (the Canadian version) will be CTV Drama, and the Comedy Network will be (naturally) CTV Comedy. I'm looking forward to that one the most since both Comedy and Comedy Gold were in bad shape programming wise and were in major need of a revamp. Soon, it will happen. Before it does, Bell will offer two other new channels as Video On Demand services free to their customers. They will be called CTV Movies and CTV Vault. Both will feature increased programming content and full seasons of The Big Bang Theory, Community, The Larry Sanders Show, and many other movies and series from CTV's library and that of Sony Pictures Television.