The Apple iPadKIMBERLY WHITE/Reuters
Rogers Communications Inc. is dealing with a new reality, beyond the remote control.
In a bid to play catch-up with other media, the company announced Friday it is launching a service to allow cable subscribers to watch its television offerings on an array of tablet devices.
Rogers said that subscribers will be able to watch anything they pay for through their television service on tablets - the iPad, Samsung Galaxy, or Research In Motion's coming device - beginning early next year.
It's an extension of Rogers' on-demand service, which streams TV and movies on the Internet for those with a Rogers cable password.
"Instead of having to think about different services with different prices and different passwords, the value we can bring to people, is that it's seamless. If people get that out of us, they'll stay with us," said John Boynton, Rogers' chief marketing officer.
Most major cable and satellite providers in Canada offer similar services on the Web, and Bell TV Online is available on the Samsung Galaxy, with some live programming on the iPad and on-demand coming soon. It's all a way of protecting their long-standing businesses against new competitors.
Among the most prominent alternatives is Netflix, which recently launched in Canada. It costs far less than a cable subscription, and can also be viewed online, on tablet devices, or on TV through certain gaming systems and Blu-Ray players.
"We think we're a complement to cable," said Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey. "We don't have the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Maple Leafs. You can't watch the Academy Awards. You can't watch the Winter Games from Vancouver. You still want your cable, for live news, weather, and sports."
Also on Friday, Rogers introduced unified data plans, offering one plan for multiple mobile devices. Customers won't be able to watch much video, however, since even the more flexible data plans give them five gigabytes of usage per month, while a typical streaming video can take up as much as one gigabyte per hour.
The point of the new data plan is to provide a lower cost of entry for customers to use more data services, said Amit Kaminer, an analyst with Seaboard Group.
"Rogers would like you to use the data as much as possible, and hook you up … so you see that you really like the product, and you need more of it," he said.