Rogers Takes TV Beyond the Box with Rogers On Demand Online

Rogers customers access premium entertainment when they want, where they want, free and on demand

TORONTO , Nov. 30 /CNW/ - It's official: the next big thing in television is here. Rogers Communications today announced the widespread availability of Rogers On Demand Online, Canada's best authenticated online destination for aggregated primetime and specialty TV programming, movies, sports and web-only extras, all available when and where you want to watch, exclusively to Rogers customers.

Beginning today, any customer with a Rogers account can visit rogersondemand.com and register to experience Rogers On Demand Online content free from any streaming Internet connection within Canada . Offered to all Rogers Cable, Rogers Home Phone, Rogers Hi-Speed Internet, and Rogers Wireless customers, the initial BETA roll out will feature more than 1000 hours of aggregated content from 17 broadcast and production partners and 30 channels. Those Rogers Cable customers with matching cable TV subscriptions will be able to access online a selection of their own specialty TV programming they subscribe to at home. With new content and features being added on an ongoing basis, Rogers On Demand Online brings authenticated anywhere, anytime TV access in Canada to a vast library of top video programming.

"Rogers On Demand Online is an extension of the existing cable television model which customers have come to enjoy and rely on at home that truly revolutionizes the world of entertainment and provides the most convenient TV content access ever made available," said David Purdy , Vice President of Video Product Management. "By expanding the TV experience to the Internet, Rogers customers can now take TV beyond the box with their favorite shows, movies, TV classics and exclusive content - all in one place from virtually any place - wherever they have an Internet connection in Canada . And this is just the beginning."

Rogers On Demand Online BETA today provides some of the best video entertainment at no extra cost to all customers with a Rogers account, including new primetime and favourite classic TV shows, specialty TV, movies, music and sports, plus web-exclusive content. Specialty and premium content and programming is available to customers who subscribe to it as part of their Rogers Digital TV subscription at home. Rogers has partnered with leading broadcasters, studios and content providers that today include:

    
    -   Aux.tv - featuring programs including MasterTracks, Band Foto
    -   Big 10 Networks - featuring football and basketball highlights,
        coaches and player interviews, Friday Night Tailgate from around the
        Big Ten Conference campuses, season previews and more
    -   THE BIOGRAPHY CHANNEL(TM) - your backstage pass to today's hottest
        celebrities, movers and shakers and pop culture icons
    -   Bite.tv - featuring programs including The Conventioneers, West 49
        Ambition Skatecamp
    -   Citytv(TM) - catch up on hit series like Cougar Town, Extreme
        Makeover: Home Edition and Ugly Betty
    -   Food Network Canada - entertaining and mouth-watering shows including
        Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, Fresh with Anna Olsen and the
        Chef Abroad
    -   G4 - the latest in gaming, entertainment and technology with EP
        Daily, and quirky comedy and animated shows like Delocated and
        Superjail
    -   Galaxie MVOD - the music videos you want at the touch of a button
    -   Global Television - catch up on TV's biggest hits including House,
        Survivor, and the fall's No.1 new comedy Glee, in partnership with
        GlobalTV.com.
    -   HGTV Canada - watch episodes of the channel's biggest hits including
        Disaster DIY, Relocation Relocation, and Handyman Superstar Challenge
    -   History Television - entertaining programming such as Ancestors in
        the Attic, The Re-inventors, and the new breakout living history hit
        Ice Pilots NWT
    -   Maple Pictures
    -   National Film Board of Canada - innovative and original Canadian
        programming including the stop-action animated short The Brainwashers
        (Patrick Bouchard), the Oscar(R) nominee Sunrise Over Tiananmen
        Square (Shui-Bo Wang) and the classic Waterwalker (Bill Mason)
    -   OLN - an intense, action-packed station that gets the adrenaline
        pumping with shows like Ghost Hunters, Survivorman and Mantracker
    -   Rogers Sportsnet - featuring Hockeycentral at Noon, Prime Time Sports
    -   Setanta
    -   Slice - guilty-pleasure viewing including Tori & Dean, Rich Bride
        Poor Bride, and 'Til Debt Do Us Part
    -   Showcase - bold hit series include Trailer Park Boys, Kenny vs.
        Spenny, and Secret Millionaire
    -   Super Channel - find the latest series episodes such as Burn Notice,
        The Closer, and of course movies such as Valkyrie and W., uncut and
        commercial free
    -   TELETOON - top animated shows including 6TEEN, Total Drama Action and
        Johnny Test
    -   Treehouse - featuring preschool favourites such as Dora the Explorer
        and Max & Ruby
    -   TVO - including flagship program The Agenda with Steve Paikin and
        TVOKids content from Gisele's Big Backyard and The Space
    -   TVtropolis - original series including Whatever Happened To, Reality
        Obsessed and Switch
    -   UFC
    -   Vuguru - Groundbreaking Web originals including Prom Queen and Back
        on Topps
    -   WarnerTV - Offering around-the-clock, on-demand access to series from
        Warner Bros. Entertainment, including the Emmy(R) Award-winning
        dramas "The West Wing" and "ER," and original digital series
        "Sorority Forever."
    -   YTV - featuring hit series such as SpongeBob SquarePants and iCarly
    

Rogers today also announced that the Starcom MediaVest Group, on behalf of their clients which include Research In Motion, Kellogg's, Kraft, Samsung and others, have signed an exclusive launch sponsorship with Rogers on Demand Online.

Rogers now offers Canada's only source of authenticated, aggregated, premium video content online, backed by Rogers' superior network and continuous innovation, outstanding speed, quality and technology.

To begin using Rogers On Demand Online BETA, register at www.rogersondemand.com to immediately transform your world of video entertainment.

About Rogers

Rogers Communications Inc. is a diversified Canadian communications and media company. We are engaged in wireless voice and data communications services through Rogers Wireless, Canada's largest wireless provider. Through Rogers Cable we are one of Canada's largest providers of cable television services as well as high-speed Internet access, telephony services and video retailing. Through Rogers Media, we are engaged in radio and television broadcasting, televised shopping, magazines and trade publications, and sports entertainment. We are publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RCI.a and RCI.b) and on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: RCI).

For further information: Carly Suppa, Rogers Communications, [phone], [email protected]; Andrea Sardinha, Rogers Communications, [phone], [email protected]