TORONTO 鈥� Sony Pictures鈥� free streaming video platform Crackle is packing up its Hollywood entertainment and leaving sa国际传媒.
The ad-supported service posted a notice on its website saying that starting Thursday it will no longer offer its library of older movies and TV shows to Canadian viewers.
The move comes as Bell Media prepares to launch two of its own video-on-demand platforms, CTV Movies and CTV Vault, later this year. Both will house a collection of older film and TV shows owned by Sony.
While Crackle has never rivalled the awareness of Netflix and CraveTV in sa国际传媒, it was one of the few streaming options in the market when it launched in 2010.
The brand fostered Jerry Seinfeld鈥檚 鈥淐omedians in Cars Getting Coffee鈥� before the show was acquired by Netflix last year, and produced films including 鈥淛oe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser鈥� and 鈥淐hosen,鈥� which was among the first streaming TV series with a narrative arc designed to encourage binge viewing.
Aside from its original content, Crackle is also known for a rotating selection of popular movies like 鈥淢en in Black,鈥� 鈥淭he Karate Kid鈥� series, and Seth Rogen comedy 鈥淭he Interview,鈥� which play on demand with frequent advertisement breaks.
But in recent years, Crackle began shifting its priorities for the Canadian market by selling the distribution rights for many of its original programs to rival streaming platforms.
鈥淪tartup,鈥� a TV drama about the creation of a cryptocurrency, was acquired by Amazon Prime Video in sa国际传媒, while Dennis Quaid鈥檚 鈥淭he Art of More鈥� and Bryan Cranston-voiced animated series 鈥淪uperMansion鈥� went to the now-defunct Shomi, owned by telecom companies Rogers and Shaw.
Many of those series have since become unavailable in the Canadian market.
Early plans for CTV鈥檚 free streaming platforms indicate that like Crackle it will offer older content with commercials, though Bell Media says it hasn鈥檛 determined all of the devices it will support, leaving it uncertain if Roku and PlayStation consoles will be supported. It has confirmed the service will be available on a number of devices, including Chromecast, Apple TV and XBox One.
Few platforms offer ad-supported, free access to big-ticket Hollywood entertainment in the Canadian marketplace, though the main broadcast networks 鈥� including CTV, City, Global and CBC 鈥� stock recent episodes and a limited library of films on their websites and apps.
Representatives for both Bell Media and Sony would not say whether Crackle鈥檚 original series would be available on the CTV new platforms.
