Rogers today unveiled grand plans to invest $1.5 billion over 10 to 15 years to develop a 10-tower condo development in Mississauga, dubbed M City. The land was originally purchased by company founder Ted Rogers for $170,000, a generation ago. The development is a family-run project, independent of Rogers Communications.
The company’s deputy chairman—and son of the late Ted Rogers—Edward Rogers, did comment on the announcement of the impending shutdown of the company’s streaming service, shomi, though, reports Reuters.
Rogers said “We’ve aspired to move beyond just the television, and Shomi was one foray into that.” He continued to say “While that didn’t work to what was planned, it hasn’t diminished our enthusiasm and hunger to invest,” referring to the company’s plans to launch Internet-based television by year’s end.
Shomi was a failed experiment that lasted two years (a partnership with Shaw), and is expected to hit the company with a $100-$140 million write down, for the third quarter, ending September 30th. The service will end as of November 30, 2016.
Cue the Closing Credits. Unfortunately, shomi will be shutting down as of Nov. 30, 2016. These past 2 years have been amazing & we thank you
— shomi (@shomicanada) September 26, 2016
Rival Bell, already has 1.27 million IPTV customers, so Rogers has some work to do to catch up.
Despite the setback, Rogers emphasized he still sees the company as a dividend growth stock, adding “We are committing to our company, committed to the people that own our shares and thanking them and giving back to them in the form of dividends as the company grows.”
Shomi was a nice attempt, but it’s not that easy to just launch a streaming service and instantly compete with the Silicon Valley gurus at Netflix. Will Bell’s CraveTV be next on the chopping block?
