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Consumers are using the internet for an ever-increasing range of activities. This has meant that home internet data usage has also increased at a rapid pace. Unfortunately, most home internet connections these days are limited by usage caps. The customers are given a basic allotment of data usage, with any usage over that amount subject to additional charges at exorbitant “overage fee” rates. So while these plans my not technically be capped, the practical usage of them means that customers are limited to the original usage allotment of their plan. Listening to the radio recently one is bound to hear the ad for the new TV streaming service Shomi. What you realize is that the ad is a hilariously hypocritical critique of their own historical practices.
You see, Showmi is owned by Rogers. Back in the days of old, when people actually went to video stores to rent movies (yes, that long ago), Rogers was one of the main operators of video stores though their Rogers Video and Rogers Plus outlets. TV providers and mainstream media finally realizing that “cord cutting”, is beyond a point which they can deny its prevalence. Millions of people around the world are moving from the monopolized offering of traditional TV providers which are often too expensive and slow at modernizing, to streaming services.
Traditional TV in respective countries or regions mostly follows a standardized protocol. This means that users can standardize their own hardware and media setup for consistent access to content. Every day more and more Canadians turn to the internet as their source for media content. This has forced traditional cable providers and content producers to justify the outdated state of their current offerings. With the ease of finding premium content online, for free, safeguards around traditional content are doing more to drive customers away than they are to keep them around. The CRTC recently concluded a series of hearing designed to establish, among other things, whether regulating the unbundling of current TV packages could allow for greater consumer choice in terms of what they are actually paying for.