cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Outlander is not on W Network On Demand

jcarm
Friendly Neighbour
Why is Outlander advertised as on W Network On Demand, when it is not available on demand? Will it ever be available on W Network On Demand?
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Tai
TELUS Team Member
TELUS Team Member

Once I hear back from our content team I will post another reply here for you. 🙂

View solution in original post

16 REPLIES 16

NFtoBC
Community Power User
Community Power User

This Neighbourhood is inhabited by customers, just like you. We have no insight to Telus business plans, and no connection to the internal workings of Telus. We volunteer to share knowledge about Telus products and services which we have gained by experience or surmise.

 

In other words, your crystal ball is as clear as that of the rest of us.

 

NFtoBC
If you find a post useful, please give the author a "Kudo"

Chicnstu
Leader
In most cases it comes down to licensing from the content provider. It's common to see shows pulled from the VOD library at the request of the content producer or production company shortly before they release a boxed set on Blu Ray or before the show is changing owners or networks as they feel it will increase sales if it's not available via other sources.

Tai
TELUS Team Member
TELUS Team Member

Hi @jcarm

 

@Chicnstu is correct. The content providers, W Network in this case, would be in control of providing us with, and requesting removal of, content from their respective On Demand libraries.

 

For Outlander specifically, I can provide some details based on my personal experiences. I noticed that they had the season premiere episode up pretty quickly, but the latest episodes since then have had a 2-4 day delay before I've seen them in the On Demand library. Our content teams ensure the shows are updated as quickly as possible once we receive the titles/files from the broadcaster.

 

I can do my best to find out more about when you can expect this week's episode, S4 E5 from Sunday, to show up On Demand.


I hope the above info helps! 🙂

 

-Tai

 

jcarm
Friendly Neighbour
Hi @Tai
I reached out to W Network and they said to me
"Hi J, great to hear from you! We’d suggest reaching out to your service provider and ensuring that they offer Outlander through their on demand service. Please let us know if there’s anything else we can do to assist you. Thanks and good luck! 😊" And Telus told me it was up to the content provider .... I just want to watch the last couple episodes I missed 😞

Tai
TELUS Team Member
TELUS Team Member

Once I hear back from our content team I will post another reply here for you. 🙂

jcarm
Friendly Neighbour
I received this response from W Network. So Telus, please provide your customers with decent On Demand options like the competitors.

"Thank you for your email.

Full-length episodes may be available On Demand with participating service providers. Please note that choosing what services to provide their subscribers is a decision made by each cable provider. Telus does not currently offer Outlander, and other On Demand titles, to their subscribers --- we encourage you to keep contacting them to ask that they offer this, or switch to a TV provider that makes this content available. Providers include Rogers, Cogeco, Shaw, and Shaw Direct.You can also find additional information regarding the On Demand availability on our FAQ page.

Sincerely,

W Network"

Tai
TELUS Team Member
TELUS Team Member

@jcarm Thank you for sharing the response you received. I have passed along the interest and your request to our content team for future considerations.

 

I don't watch much on TV but I do watch Outlander and I am a dedicated fan.  Since the season began on W Network this year, I have had problems.  Example, the advertised time for the premier wasn't the actual time of the running but that would have been a W thing.  Next, the season premier did not show up ON DEMAND.  I called Telus and was put through to a tech (someone who knew what he was doing who is situated in Montreal) who actually thought that it was strange that it wasn't already uploaded and actually uploaded it onto Demand while I spoke with him so I was able to watch the premiere!!!  I was happy and thought that an over-sight had been corrected.

 

Next problem, while away for two weeks vacation in early December, my PVR which was then set up to record Outlander....anytime, re-run or not, did not record for the December 2 episode did not record anything....the recording for Outlander simply states: "the program is not available" and for December 9th, the recording was titled "Outlander" but what recorded was a Christmas program starring Bob Newhart as an elf.   Upon return from vacation, I discovered these recording problems but thought that I'd be able to catch up using On Demand.  Wrong - there are no Outlander programs are On Demand now - what was there has been removed.  I called Tech Support but got no where - they told me the programs were On Demand, that I just needed to find them but they, lol, have no way of actually checking themselves because they are in the Philippines and have no access to the On Demand service from there - all this after 45 minutes on hold.   Adding to the frustration, the Philippines call centre said that they were unable (unwilling) to connect me with a Canadian technical representative and said that they were sure that my problem must be with W network so I wrote to W.....and this is their response:

 

Dear Susan ,

 

Thank you for your email.

 

Full-length episodes may be available On Demand with participating service providers. Please note that choosing what services to provide their subscribers is a decision made by each cable provider. Telus does not currently offer Outlander, and other On Demand titles, to their subscribers --- we encourage you to keep contacting them to ask that they offer this, or switch to a TV provider that makes this content available. Providers include Rogers, Cogeco, Shaw, and Shaw Direct.You can also find additional information regarding the On Demand availability on our FAQ page.

 

Sincerely,

W Network

 

Fortunately, the last 3 episodes of Outlander have recorded on my PVR although I have been able to watch them live.  That said, I have missed two episodes of the season which is quite disappointing.  I pay a lot for my cable program but in reality, only watch the news and Outlander.  I am hoping that this problem with resolved soon....I'd really like to get access to the entire season and watch it in chronological order.  It's very disappointing that I missed two episodes and have been unable to catch up.  I am hoping that you will resolve this problem for me and all of the Telus customers....I suspect that this problem doesn't just occur with Outlander.

 

Kind regards, Susan

 

 

W is only sending out a boilerplate email response to people. Shows how much time and effort they are willing to put into communicating with their subscribers.

 

There's a reason W is telling people to look at Shaw. Shaw owns and controls W Network. That's just one thing that the person from W network failed to mention to you. If you read W's FAQ that @SusanW linked to in her response, you'll see that their FAQ specifically says W only offers the full on-demand content library to only those three providers - Cogeco, Rogers and Shaw. The FAQ also states that the content available to anyone NOT using those three providers is pathetically limited and that's all they'll offer.

 

Q: What’s Available on W On Demand for All Other Subscribers?

  • All episodes of Chesapeake Shores
  • Latest episodes of select W Network hit series – available for next day catch-up

You'll find that if you look in the Optik On Demand section for W that Chesapeake Shores is in there. The "next day catch-up" will be where you go into the guide on the Optik box and scroll left of the current time to see shows that aired in the last 24ish hours and can watch them. I really wish W / Corus / Shaw would stop lying to subscribers when they know they won't even offer the content to other providers in the first place.

 

I am aware that Corus owns both Shaw and W Network but thanks for confirming. 

 

Obviously, there is a conflict between Corus and Telus so it follows that any end user who wants to watch programs that are only available on Corus owned networks such as W while using the Telus owned Optik TV could experience problems such as what is happening to me.  I am simply caught in the middle.  Thanks for making that clear. 

 

I am not interested in Chesapeake Shores but thanks the tip. 

 

My question to Telus is:

 

How and when (eg: what date?) am I getting access to the 2 missing episodes of Outlander (December 2 & 9) that did not record as programmed and are not available to me through W On Demand on Optik TV? 

I think you may have missed the part where W won't allow other providers (Telus, Bell, Videotron, etc) access to that on demand content. The conflict is basically Shaw and Corus being anti-competitive by not allowing ALL providers access to the content. Want to fix that? Urge Telus to file a CRTC complaint for "undue preference" against Shaw and Corus. They've done it in the past.

Thank you for the confirmation that Outlander will never be on W on Demand on Optik TV.  Do you know why those two episodes didn't record?  Is this also proprietary?  

 

The whole matter is very discouraging although I do appreciate your time and effort to communicate with me.  I have also wasted so much time trying to resolve this problem.  Watching TV should be relaxing and enjoyable.  Why should I have to encourage Telus to file a complaint with the CRTC?   In my mind, this is there problem between Telus and Corus so why aren't they stick-handling it without customer intervention? 

NFtoBC
Community Power User
Community Power User

@SusanW wrote:

  Do you know why those two episodes didn't record?  Is this also proprietary?  

  


Likely because W Network changed the programming without updating the information to the supplier of the guide in which you chose the recording options. The accuracy of the guide (by an outside supplier) is dependent on the broadcasters sending timely updates, and those being transmitted to Telus for updating of the guide. If this didn't happen, your selections would have the results you described earlier:

 

... my PVR which was then set up to record Outlander....anytime, re-run or not, did not record for the December 2 episode did not record anything....the recording for Outlander simply states: "the program is not available" and for December 9th, the recording was titled "Outlander" but what recorded was a Christmas program starring Bob Newhart as an elf. 

 

NFtoBC
If you find a post useful, please give the author a "Kudo"

jcarm
Friendly Neighbour
Do you work for telus? Because the telus rep who I spoke to, mentioned nothing of this above conflict. They tried to change the story blaming W network. If you look at all the Telus on demand options, they are very limited. So is telus in a conflict with all content providers? or is telus just a poor service provider??

I do not work for Telus.  Read the threads above...it should explain everything to you. 

 

jcarm
Friendly Neighbour
But telus used to have Outland on demand. Infact they did at the beginning of this season, then it was removed. After only 2 episodes.