Bell Media is giving Torontonians a free trial of the new multiplatform video-streaming service for its recently acquired The Movie Network.
To entice new subscribers, demonstrations of the TMN GO app are currently taking place in three downtown Toronto locations, including Royal Bank Plaza, and will continue until Aug. 1.
Representatives showing passersby how the service works are giving those who don’t already subscribe trial cards that will give them access to a free month-long trial once activated. (Similarly, attendees at Toronto’s Fan Expo, which takes place Aug. 22 to 25, will also have the chance to receive a free trial.)
According to a release, TMN GO “offers customers access to TMN’s premium content anywhere, anytime.” The app offers several HBO series, including The Newsroom, True Blood and Veep, as well as Cinemax and Showtime series, plus classic and recent feature films.
The TMN GO service features parental controls, social networking abilities that let users share and like favourite content in real time, and the ability for users to begin watching on one device, then continue on a different one.
One of the shows available on the app, Game of Thrones, is at the centre of another element of TMN’s current TMN GO initiatives. The TMN GO’s “Sign In To Win” contest gives existing subscribers that activate their free TMN GO trial the opportunity to win a trip to the main place the series is shot: Northern Ireland.
This grand prize includes a three-night trip for two to Northern Ireland, as well as a tour of spots the series is filmed. Other prizes in the contest include iPads, iPad minis and Source gift cards.
Beyond its namesake pay TV channel, The Movie Network service includes four other channels: HBO Canada, MExcess, MFun! and MFest.
Most recently an Astral asset, The Movie Network was a key property motivating BCE’s recent acquisition of Astral.
In May, before the CRTC’s approval of the acquisition, Rogers Communications expressed that it wanted the CRTC to have Bell sell Astral’s English pay TV services if the deal were to go through. At the time, Rogers showed interest in purchasing TMN if that were to happen.
But Bell said it would drop its offer if it had to sell TMN, a driving strategy behind its bid since the asset will help it against services such as Netflix.
Planning for the app demonstrations and Game of Thrones contest was in the planning stages for several months before Bell’s acquisition of Astral took place.
