【搜狐IT消息】北京时间3月11日消息：据国外媒体报道，加拿大有线电视网络巨头罗杰斯（Rogers Communications）计划推出“加拿大版”Hulu网站，以图挽留有线用户。
罗杰斯公司高层面对加拿大电信监管机构作出上述表态。
该公司将建设一个网站，将获得版权授权的电视剧等内容放到网上，供本公司有线用户免费欣赏。罗杰斯此举旨在挽留有线电视用户。根据报道，由于经济不景气，美国和加拿大部分消费者开始撤销有线服务，节省开支。
在运作模式上，该网站非常类似美国新闻集团和NBC合作的Hulu网站。另外，加拿大政府计划向宽带服务商征税，以支持国内内容上网。罗杰斯希望以建设免费网站作为一个替代选项。
Hulu网站内容只能在美国观看，加拿大网民只能通过零零散散的小网站观看电视剧。
值得一提的是，有消息称时代华纳有线等美国有线运营商也在谋划类似Hulu的网站，以免视频网站挖走更多有线订户。（西子晴雪编译）
Rogers talks up Canadian version of Hulu.com
Grant Surridge, Financial Post
Published: Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Rogers Communications Inc. Tuesday proposed offering its cable customers a Web site where they could view popular television programs free of charge as a way to promote Canadian Internet content.
The service would likely bear some resemblance to the popular U.S. service Hulu.com and serve as an alternative to a proposed levy on Internet service providers to fund Canadian online content.
It would also be incentive for the company’s cable customers not to ditch their subscriptions during a tough economy.
“We think this will do a great job protecting the future of Canadian broadcasting,” David Purdy, vice-president of television services at Rogers, told the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in Ottawa.
In order to access the Web site, Rogers customers would have to hold on to their cable subscriptions.
Last quarter, Rogers admitted growth in its cable business suffered as the economy worsened, which followed on news in the United States that some major cable players have begun to lose cable customers as people shed household costs.
Hulu.com is a popular site run in partnership with NBC and News Corp. that offers popular shows like 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live available on-demand and free to viewers. It is so far inaccessible outside the United States because of complicated negotiations over fees for digital broadcast rights.
Canadians looking to view their favourite television shows online must currently negotiate mostly a patchwork network of individual broadcasters sites.
Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc. are discussing with owners of major cable-TV networks ways to give cable subscribers online access to much of the networks’ programming.
U.S. cable companies such as Comcast have started to lose subscribers as well, as consumers turn to sites like Hulu.com where they can watch their favourite shows without paying monthly cable fees on top of their Internet bills.
The federal broadcast regulator is in the middle of a series of hearings to determine how and whether it should regulate the Internet in Canada.
Yesterday, major Internet service providers had their first chance to testify before the commission regarding the controversial ISP levy.
Executives from Rogers referred to the levy as “unlawful,” while a senior Cogeco Cable Inc. executive told the CRTC the proposed ISP levy is a regulatory structure that is “unprecedented in the world.”
Shaw Communications Inc. chief executive Jim Shaw, who has a long history of clashing with the federal regulator, began his presentation by saying there is no need to regulate the Internet in any way.
“Canadians have clearly stated there is no need for this hearing,” he said.
ISPs argue that they are “pipes” rather than broadcasters and therefore any levy imposed on them under the Broadcasting Act would be, in the words of Rogers this morning, “unlawful.”
The ISPs have said several times that any such levy would go directly onto the Internet bills of consumers.
Rogers said its proposed on-demand viewing service would act as a way to promote Canadian content on the Internet, with roughly the same levels of Canadian programming on the service as available currently on television.
http://www.financialpost.com/news-sectors/story.html?id=1373987
