Canadian national media conglomerate Bell Media has launched its bite-sized SnackableTV streaming service on Android.
The service offers users short clips from television shows and news programs licensed by Bell.
According to a February 5th, 2018 media release, SnackableTV will also be the “exclusive home” for content derived from Kevin Hart’s Laugh Out Loud app — a streaming service available in the U.S., but that has yet to make its way to Canadians.
Additionally, Bell has ordered a short-form version of Letterkenny to debut on the SnackableTV service. Full episodes of Letterkenny are otherwise available on Bell’s CraveTV streaming service.
“Today’s launch of SnackableTV represents an innovative, all-Canadian solution that addressed an open space in today’s user landscape, providing short-form premium content tailored for Canadian audiences and advertisers like,” said Randy Lennox, president of Bell Media, in the same February release. “As SnackableTV grows, so will its inventory of popular news, comedy and entertainment offerings as we leverage some of the most sought-after entertainment brands, both in Canada and from around the world.”
It’s important to note that SnackableTV was originally launched on iOS in June 2017.
The service is branded by Bell as a “free-to-consumer, ad-supported short-form video content hub,” which translates to mean that users can watch free clips from shows licensed to Bell in a singular app.
In many ways, the app functions quite a bit like a licensed version of YouTube, with the caveat being that users can’t upload content to SnackableTV.
Instead, users are only able to view short clips from television programs, without needing to worry about potentially infringing on copyright because the app’s contents are maintained by Bell.
SnackableTV’s launch comes at an interesting time in Canada’s media history. Last week, roughly 25 Canadian media companies came together to support the foundation of an anti-piracy coalition with the aim to give copyright owners the ability to block access to websites carrying copyright-infringing media.
SnackableTV can therefore be seen as Bell’s way of providing Canadians with access to similar content that one might search for on YouTube, but in a service maintained by one of Canada’s largest media conglomerates.
SnackableTV is free-to-download on Android and iOS.
Source: CNW
