Canadian SVOD Service Shomi Will Shut Down in November

Canadian streaming service Shomi, has announced it will be shutting down operations as of November 30th.

The cult SVOD service, launched just over two years ago, and had experienced challenges growing its subscriber base.

In addition to this,  one of Shomi’s two parent companies, Rogers Communications, announced it was expecting a loss on investment of approximately $100-140 million in its third quarter ending September 30, 2016 relating to the carrying value of its investment and a provision related to future liabilities in Shomi.

Rogers and Shaw Communications launched Shomi in November 2014 in an effort to grab the attention of a growing number of people watching TV and movies online. At first, the service was only available to the companies’ TV and Internet subscribers, but it was expanded to everyone in Canada in May 2015 as it tried to compete with Netflix and other similar web streaming services.

David Asch, Shomi Senior Vice President and General Manager said “We’re really grateful to Canadians who enthusiastically invited us into their living rooms and took us with them on their phones, tablets and laptops,”

“The business climate and online video marketplace have changed markedly in the last few years. Combined with the fact that the business is more challenging to operate than we expected, we’ve decided to wind down our operations,” Asch said. “We’re proud of the great service we created and the role we played in the evolution of Canada’s video landscape.”

Current Shomi members can keep streaming and binge-watching their favourite shows and movies online, via their Shaw or Rogers set-top box, on select tablets, mobile devices, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, Apple TV, Chromecast, and PS4 until November 30th 2016.