As of last Tuesday, Rogers and Shaw officially launched their joint project Shomi: a new streaming service that carries a wide variety of over 12,000 hours of films and TV shows. The release of this joint venture will surely tackle Netflix, currently on top of the leaderboard for streaming content, although it is difficult to say if whether users will switch over as the cost per month for both services currently stand at the same price of $8.99 after a free month trial.

This was a bold move for Rogers and Shaw yet not completely unexpected. Not only did Netflix’s disruptive innovation as a internet streaming platform completely kill DVD rental industries such as BlockBuster, but it reduced television subscribers as well. It is actually extremely clever for Rogers and Shaw to bounce back from Netflix’s blow to their numbers by spinning this situation into an opportunity to come back stronger and positively tackle the current threat in their industry. Shomi may have to face the challenge of entering the market since Netflix has been the dominant provider with little competition for years and is favourable in consumers minds due to familiarity of this. Canada’s delay of putting out a competitor to U.S.-based Netflix Inc has also been criticized but hopefully due to the currently limited online streaming providers this will be overlooked and Shomi will emerge successfully in the next few years.

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/review-is-shomi-a-better-streaming-service-than-netflix/article21453921/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/new-rogers-shaw-video-streaming-service-to-match-netflix-cost/article20204045/