TORONTO – Shaw Communications joined the ranks of television providers offering customers access to programming on the go Thursday with the launch of “Shaw Go,” a service that allows customers to have access to premium TV programming on their iOS devices.
Shaw, the parent company of Global News, will deliver the latest seasons of HBO Canada, including the latest episodes of hit shows such as Dexter and The Newsroom, and over 600 titles from Movie Central to customers of Shaw, Shaw Direct and subscribers to Movie Central.
“This is all about adding value to our customers existing subscription. With the prevalence of connected devices this is a natural development for us,” said Shaw’s vice president of digital, Paul Burns.
That prevalence is demonstrated by a growing number of tablet users turning to their gadgets to watch TV and movies.
A Consumer Insight Summary report, published by Ericsson in August, found that 67 per cent of consumers used tablets, smartphones or laptops for TV viewing.
In addition to this, the study found that 60 per cent of consumers watch video on demand, on a weekly basis.
“The share of out-of-the-home viewing conducted specifically on smartphones has increased by 5 percentage points to almost 50 per cent in just one year. Consumers now expect to be able to view content which they have paid for on any device,” read the study.
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This customer demand to have content available on mobile devices has lead many cable companies, including Rogers and Bell to offer “on the go services.”
Shaw executives said their customers wanted HD quality pictures, with a wide variety of choice and feel Shaw Go represents those values.
“We really looked at that as our starting point; how do we design an experience that’s customer-centric, that really delivers on the promise of value and figure out the technology piece later.”
Technology, however, plays a key part in the release of Shaw Go.
Shows can be played on Apple iOS devices including the new iPhone 5. The app was developed to deliver the best possible content feed for the connection you have, which Burns said will deliver HD quality streaming that is second to none.
Social media also plays a key role in the customer experience; users are able to connect to Facebook and Twitter within the app, to share their viewing experience with friends and followers.
62 per cent of people used social networking sites and forums while watching TV, according to further research by Ericsson.
Reasons for using social media while watching TV ranged from gaining a feeling of community, to wanting to further analyze or discuss the content they are watching.
“Television has been widely contributed to developing social media and social media has been known to enhance television audiences,” said writer at Lost Remote and Supervising Producer of the Shorty Awards, Natan Edelsburg.
Lost Remote was the first tech blog to dedicate their reporting to social TV coverage and analysis.
“I think the bigger picture is people no longer really are watching TV in just one place. I have so many of these “anywhere TV” gadgets, mostly because I’m a big TV geek, but also because I can interact with the programs that I am watching,” said Edelsburg.
Starting Thursday, Shaw Go offers Movie Central and HBO programming to customers in Western Canada; but, Shaw says consumers can expect a wider selection of on-demand content and live streaming in the coming months.
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