- Get your #baseball cap on! MLB Extra Innings is on free preview until May 5th. ^eo
Rogers on Demand Online Rentals to launch next month
September 10th, 2010 a 8:46am
We have some exciting news to share today about our video-entertainment offering.
Next month, we’ll be launching Rogers On Demand Online Rentals, featuring the latest new-release hits from the biggest Hollywood studios, available to rent online the same day they are in store and on DVD.
The service will launch with hundreds of titles that are over and above Rogers On Demand Online’s current portfolio of more than 2,500 hours of prime time, sports and movies from more than 60 networks and content providers.
While we’ll have more to talk about soon, here are some highlights:
- $4.99 new-release movies available for rent the same date they are available at the local video store and $3.99 library and catalogue titles.
- You have 30 days from purchase to start watching your movie and a full 48 hours to view the movie once started.
- The ability to stop the movie and resume watching from where you left off the next time you log in to Rogers On Demand Online within the 48-hour viewing window – so you can finish a flick on your lunch break the next day at work.
- Streamed rentals directly from Rogers On Demand Online – no download required.
- Social features to leave comments, rate movies, share with friends and create playlists
Meanwhile, we also unveiled some interesting survey results today about what you are looking for – and excited about – when it comes to the future of video entertainment. The online poll of more than 1,000 Canadians was conducted for us by Angus Reid
- More than 60 per cent of Canadians report that when it comes to the future of entertainment experiences, they are most excited about the ability to watch their entertainment and movies on their own schedule.
- More than 80 per cent agreed they want to be able to access the entertainment programming they have at home across multiple screens.
- Nearly 60 per cent of 18-34 year-olds said they prefer to watch their entertainment on “My time” – what they want, when they want.
For more information on the new service, you can visit www.rogersondemand.com, its Facebook page or follow @RogersRODO on Twitter to get the latest updates and provide us with feedback on the service.
What are your thoughts on the new service? How have you changed the ways you enjoy video entertainment?
Richard Bloom is a regular contributor to RedBoard.
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Considering you lowered the usage caps on all your internet plans in response to Netflix coming, the least you could do is make downloads through this service separate and not count towards your monthly bandwidth usage. Otherwise, it’s clear to everyone that you just want to suck the money out of your customers, charging them for rentals and then charging them for their internet usage to get those rentals.
Hi Ted,
Thanks for your feedback.
We constantly review our Internet offerings to ensure they meet the needs of new and existing customers while remaining competitive. The changes to the Light and Extreme tier plans that you mentioned are unrelated to the Netflix announcement.
BTW, by saying “you” I don’t actually mean you :) I know you have nothing to do with the changes the company makes to plans, etc…
So in other words this was just a coincidence?
Some Canadian internet providers have already moved to limit how much their customers can use services such as Netflix. Rogers, the country’s largest cable company, lowered download limits on some of its plans in July, just days after Netflix announced it was coming to Canada.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/09/22/netflix-canada.html#ixzz10HB3EaHD
This was definitely not a coincidence. There have been quite a lot of complaints against Rogers with the Federal Government once this was announced. Sadly the only other choice out there is to look for an ISP that does not use bandwidth caps for which there are several out there.
What will be the quality of the videos? Will they be offered in HD?
Will this be counted against the monthly download cap?
Hi Kevin,
We will not have HD movies available to rent at launch, however, we are working to add this option in the near future.
Yes. Much like any other video streaming site, customers are responsible for any bandwidth usage beyond their monthly limit. If you are concerned about going over your limit, we recommend that you monitor your usage online.
Sadly, the monthly bandwidth caps with all major ISPs including Rogers is what will keep this service and others from garnering the same popularity as in the U.S. Rogers is also in the unique situation of having the Online Rentals cannibalize DVD rentals from the brick-and-mortar stores, so it’s understandable that this effort feels half-baked. To really make this work, I should be able to rent a movie, watch it online or through my Rogers Cable settop box, and not have it count towards my bandwidth. Otherwise there is nothing differentiating this service from half-dozen others that are available now or before the end of the year.
Hi Richard,
Thanks for your feedback on the service. One thing that does differentiate this service from others is that many titles will be available on date of release which means you can watch the latest movies without running out to the video store.
Which, again, is useless when data caps are so low.
I couldn’t agree more. Unless video rentals are not counted within the monthly cap, count me and many, many others out.
I realize (and it’s clear from the inclusion of statistics) that Rogers doesn’t need to focus on what any individual wants. But I don’t want just first run movies, trendy sports and series in an exclusive community, I want world scale choice and pricing with the knowledge and chaos of the Internet. I have yet to see any Rogers promotions that have been aimed at me, aside maybe from the initial “open,” “revolution” Android ads, which unfortunately proved rather false. While I am not included in “nearly 60 per cent of 18-34 year-old,” I am pretty sure the majority of people would simply like Roger to provide reliable, fast, competitive Internet service so we can choose from a global palette of options. Rogers should certainly participate in extra offerings, but not to the detriment to the bigger idea.
What will be the quality of the rentals? That is, will full HD movies be available for rent?
Hi Vitali,
As I mentioned to Kevin above, we won’t have HD movies available to rent at launch, but we’re working to add this option in the future.
Will the on line rentals offer the same Closed captioning as DVD rental?
Hi David,
Closed captioning will not be available on rentals at launch but if we have news to share on this topic, we’ll let customers know via Facebook (www.facebook.com/rogersondemandonline) or Twitter (@RogersRODO).
Can’t watch it using my iPad. Fail.
Funny that Rogers has very low bandwidth usage cap and now they even ensure to provide you with services to help you get there and surpass it even faster. Good work, more ways to gouge. Can’t wait until HD is implemented and you hit your pitiful 60GB cap after about 6 movies.
So, in a nutshell, how is this different from the offerings of the new apple tv?
Hey Adrian,
While I won’t comment on a non-Rogers product, I think a key point to note is that Rogers on Demand Online offers users a full suite of
entertainment in one location — whether you’re looking for a-la-carte rentals, free content from Global and Citytv, or access to your favourite cable shows from TMN, HBO, Treehouse, HGTV and many more, And, there are a lot more exciting things to come…
Richard.
I’m excited about all of this, but it’s got to get on a set top box so that I can watch it on the TV on my couch instead of in front of the computer. If you can get software/support for RogersOnDemand on something like the upcoming Boxee box or the Xbox/PS3, I think you’d have a winner with on demand.
Hi Ben,
We are looking into ways to extend Rogers On Demand Online to consumer electronics devices (tablets & TVs).
A great place to learn about future updates is to follow RODO on Twitter (@RogersRODO) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/RogersOnDemandOnline).
Cheers,
Richard.
How many times can I view the same movie from Rodo once I’ve paid for it?
Hi G,
You have 30 days from purchase to start watching your movie and a full 48 hours to view the movie once started. You can watch your movie as much as you’d like during the 48 hour viewing period.
Cheers,
Richard.
Do you offer ABC, FOX or PBS on demand to name a few. Not sure if CW is avail On Demand.
Thx
Improvements I’d like to see Rogers make for their ROD Online:
1. Rogers wireless customers outside cable footprint to be able to pay a monthly subscription service to watch live TV shows from major networks currently offered to cable subscribers who reside in Ontario.
2. Be able to watch live Pay Per View events (ie: UFC, etc).
3. Programming menu that’s easy to view channel lineup.
4. Live local TV shows.
5. Ability to watch live TV shows both on laptop (Mac and Windows compatible) and Smartphones (iPhone 4, Samsung Galaxy, Blackberry, etc).
6. Competitive pricing. Consumers can currently get lower priced recorded programming from Apple’s iTunes and Apple TV.
Hi,
Thanks a lot for your feedback and suggestions! I’ve passed them along to the internal team for consideration.
Why can’t Rogers just admit that by lowering bandwidth caps and increasing prices they are making things worse for consumers rather than the corporate mumbo jumbo posts by anybody with Rogers in their name.