Most of the studios still regarded streaming as something like saw with YouTube which started in 2005. They thought of it as poor quality home videos or pirate material from their own shows. Even Google acquiring YouTube didn't make TV networks and studios think they'd be supplanted by future cord cutters. Netflix was a form of distribution they had established with the company with DVD being mailed out so when streaming started to emerge, they were at least working with a group they knew.
Technology had to catch up. Smart phones were still not around, high definition television and high speed Internet were a few years away. If there was one industry that was going all in on digital, it was the adult industry and it was Canada that was a leader in that field. In 2007, many of the major studios cooperated and created Hulu so that people would have a place to go to watch recently aired TV episodes. In 2025, Hulu has been largely swallowed into Disney. Content deals still exist with many other studios though. This is probably because the federal government would intervene if competition suffered. Already Disney has absorbed a major studio.
Some of the major streamers have dropped series and movies even when they were the original producer. It always catches fans by surprise because the expectation is that shows will always be there. This is the catch when it comes to digital media. In the past, you could always count on a media such that you physically possessed. When it came to rentals in the VHS/Beta and DVD days, there were a lot of variation from store to store. Some like Blockbuster would have all the hits in quantities and then sell them off over the weeks. They would have some regular popular item that would fill out the store. Some rental places like Movie Village would have a wide variety of material from British movies to every Oscar winner they could get their hands on.
Today streaming services are like those days of video stores. Netflix has all the hits but creates content based on internal data that will tell them which star and which genre will generate interest in subscribers and keeping subscribers. And now with commercials revenue has climbed even as Netflix grows more popular. They have announced their fees are up again despite the profits. The best guess why fees are going up is that Netflix is going after more live sports and will need the money to beat competitors.
One of the reasons cable was so popular was because news, shows, sports and everything in between was on there. For Canadians, it was cable that gave us ever more insight and interest in the U.S. And if polls are any indication, bigger supporters of Canada being different. In Canada we don't really have homegrown streaming services save for CBC's Gem. It has very light offerings on Canadian and international fare and is free. Each network has a streaming version of their service. There is Crave which a premium subscription service that has HBO.
Canadian material is on all services. However, there is nothing to compel U.S. services to place Canadian content on their platform. It certainly put TV and radio stations at a disadvantage in Canada. Laws are going into effect that would work to change that. However, the election in the U.S. has put pressure on change to laws in this regard. Also, a future election in Canada could see the end of the CBC and Gem. It could see the end of all Canadian TV, radio and newspapers. There just seems so little interest in keeping them going.
There are a lot of unknowns. All this brings us back to Tubi. It has been around a fairly long time. From time to time, many of us have checked in because it was free. Likely, the first feeling people might have had was that there wasn't anything current. It's true. If you are looking for the latest TV series or movie, you won't find it here. Famous series like Fast and Furious and Mission Impossible won't likely be found here. However, what will be found here is increasingly surprising. There is a lot of independent film and horrors. A ton of kids programming.
Original material is being produced and has been since 2021, a year after the purchase by FOX in 2020 for $440 millions. Other FOX subsidiaries that produce animation and documentaries have found a home on Tubi. And now Tubi produces its own animation, documentaries, genre series and movies. It even has a regular talk show. The quality keeps rising. FOX doesn't use the channel for repeats of its popular series like Simpsons but they have sufficient product elsewhere that they can add.
Tubi has recently received offers of $2 billion to FOX to buy the company. Although they have sold 20th Century FOX studio to Disney, they seemed disinclined to sell their free streaming service. With the huge value increase, it should surprise no one. Tubi has also signed deals with major networks worldwide and other Hollywood studios. The only one not included it seems is Disney. Not that it matters, Tubi has now got a library easily the largest of any studio out there. At last count around 40,000 items to watch.
In Canada, Tubi is available everywhere and Shaw/Rogers distributed it to even further places. While Netflix continues to produce some of the better stuff out there and has some of the most popular series and movies that have recently come out, it is a pay service while Tubi remains free.
Tubi, like a lot of streamers, is getting into sports. For big events, they often have the repeat of it about a half hour after it has aired. In some cases Fox Sports broadcasts the games they cover on Tubi. This isn't unlike Gem in Canada that often puts CBC sports events that can't be shown on main network such as Olympics on Gem. Canada is a separate market though so some games are blacked out in favour of the Canadian broadcaster.
The biggest coup for Tubi is that they have landed the Super Bowl and will be airing the FOX broadcast. They will be even having their own pre-game show. It is unclear whether the game on Tubi will be blacked out. CTV/TSN own the NFL rights. When this happens, Amazon and Netflix games appear on CTV. In any event, it is a huge new move for Tubi.
The amount of material available on Tubi today has likely taken it to a level where ads can sustain it as long as they don't seek to do what the big studios do which is spend hundreds of millions on original work or sports. Many producers in the world now have a platform to get their work seen if some of the majors drop them or don't even consider their productions.
The CBC, CTV and Global only seem interested in their apps and distributing a limited number of productions that are not their own. They are not terrible but they are so limited in what they license. And there are aspirations to go world-wide like BritBox, the BBC service has done. Crave TV is a premium streamer and HBO material often drives its subscriptions.
There is nothing Tubi in Canada. And Tubi distinguishes itself in the U.S. as well. For those who long for the days of the video store with staff recommendations and discovery walking down an aisle, this is the streamer for you. In this case, the walking is with your clicker. And perhaps you hum the Toooo Beee...Tubi opening tune much more often. And what's best, unlike Netflix, you can watch free with ads.
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