Updated Jan 17 to reflect Zazeen channel updates
Other Internet service providers have deployed IPTV products in Canada before, and some of the large media companies have offered TV service based on IPTV or IPTV-like technology. The difference this time is that Zazeen will be offering the service over a last-mile which they do not control and will be using pure "over the top" technology similar to that used by Netflix.
Other Internet service providers have deployed IPTV products in Canada before, and some of the large media companies have offered TV service based on IPTV or IPTV-like technology. The difference this time is that Zazeen will be offering the service over a last-mile which they do not control and will be using pure "over the top" technology similar to that used by Netflix.
Small ISPs like ColbaNet offer IPTV service, but they only offer service in a limited geographic area and they usually have access to the last mile wiring, either because they own it or because they've installed their gear in the local telephone/cable company's facilities. Zazeen will be serving most of the larger metro areas of Ontario and Quebec, and does not own or control the last mile wiring in any of those areas as far as I know. Some of the traditional telephone companies use IPTV technology to deliver digital TV over their copper & fibre infrastructure, but their IPTV uses a separate logical network that happens to run over the same wiring as phone and Internet; the television feed into the household is not arriving at the subscriber's house as regular Internet traffic, it gets split off by the router/modem device at the point where the wiring enters the subscriber's house.
Zazeen therefore is something of a pioneer, bravely investing a significant amount of money while being highly dependent on wholesale Internet access from Rogers, Bell, and Videotron. I should mention that a CRTC-imposed condition of Zazeen's TV distribution license is that the service be provided over a "closed network" rather than being available to anyone with an Internet connection in the service areas. For now, the CRTC and Zazeen's regulatory lawyers take that to mean that you must be an Internet customer of Acanac or Distributel - the parent companies of Zazeen. This restriction is largely historical and bureaucratic rather than technical - many of the regulations governing "Broadcast Distribution Undertakings" or BDUs go back to the 1970s and 80s when cable companies started springing up all over the country. For now, Zazeen has to play by the rules created several decades ago for cable companies. Hopefully someday the CRTC will allow them to offer service to any customer in Canada, much like the satellite companies or unregulated services such as Netflix.
