Yesterday, a handful of Canadian streaming enthusiasts were disappointed to learn that Shomi is expected to shut down its service before the end of the year. The sudden closure comes with a hefty price tag for Rogers Communications, who founded Shomi in partnership with Shaw.
According to TMX Money [via The A.V. Club], Rogers is expected to lose an investment of up to $140 million CAD from Shomi's early closure.
"We tried something new, and customers who used shomi loved it. It's like a great cult favourite with a fantastic core audience that unfortunately just isn't big enough to be renewed for another season," said Rogers senior vice president of content Melani Griffith. "We will be reaching out to eligible customers in the coming days as we have a wide range of premium experiences available for people to enjoy."
While it's looking more and more like Shomi was a colossal failure, the site's VP and general manager David Asch sent out a follow-up press release explaining that its subscription base was rather large.
"We recently approached 900K subs and even today we are not far off that number, which would likely make Shomi a Top 10 service in North America," he said.
Regardless, Shomi will cease to exist on November 30.
According to TMX Money [via The A.V. Club], Rogers is expected to lose an investment of up to $140 million CAD from Shomi's early closure.
"We tried something new, and customers who used shomi loved it. It's like a great cult favourite with a fantastic core audience that unfortunately just isn't big enough to be renewed for another season," said Rogers senior vice president of content Melani Griffith. "We will be reaching out to eligible customers in the coming days as we have a wide range of premium experiences available for people to enjoy."
While it's looking more and more like Shomi was a colossal failure, the site's VP and general manager David Asch sent out a follow-up press release explaining that its subscription base was rather large.
"We recently approached 900K subs and even today we are not far off that number, which would likely make Shomi a Top 10 service in North America," he said.
Regardless, Shomi will cease to exist on November 30.
