ICI TOU.TV is a French Canadian, video-on-demand website launched on January 26, 2010, by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, currently branded CBC/Radio-Canada.
 | |
 Screenshot of the website as seen on February 14, 2010. | |
Type of site | Video on demand |
|---|---|
| Available in | French |
| Headquarters | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Owner | Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |
| Industry | Web television |
| Parent | Ici Radio-Canada Télé |
| URL | ici.tou.tv |
| Advertising | Yes |
| Registration | Optional; required for contents with the Extra label |
| Launched | January 26, 2010 |
ICI TOU.TV, a French-language streaming service, offers primarily French and Québécois (French Canadian) content, including movies, series, documentaries, entertainment, etc. They also offer some content from English-speaking countries like the US, UK, and the rest of Canada. English-language content is generally dubbed in French, without subtitles.
ICI TOU.TV is geo-located and is only legally available in Canada.
CBC/Radio-Canada also offers an English-language streaming service, CBC Gem, which includes a large library of English-language content, as well as some French- and other foreign-language content. The non-English content is generally offered with English subtitles though, not dubbing.
CBC Gem and ICI TOU.TV are both free to watch in Canada, with ads. They also offer Premium, ad-free memberships for a reasonable monthly price ($5.99 and $7.99 before taxes, respectively). Premium membership with one service does not give you Premium access to the other—though they are both CBC/Radio-Canada streaming services, they each require their own membership.
Both services offer free trials, generally 7 days.
History
editAt launch, the site offered 2000 hours of French-language television content, near high definition in quality, provided by several TV channels, such as Ici Radio-Canada Télé, Ici RDI, Ici ARTV, Télé-Québec, TV5Monde, TV5 Québec Canada, TFO, Radio Canada International, RTS (Switzerland) and RTBF (Belgium).[1][2]
In February 2014, the site was re-branded as Ici TOU.TV as part of a plan to unify the CBC's French-language outlets around a single brand.[3][4]
In May 2018, it was announced that Bell Media, the National Film Board of Canada, TV5 Québec Canada, and V Media Group would contribute content to TOU.TV's premium Extra tier, as part of an effort to better compete with Netflix on the availability of Québécois and French-language content.[5] Other distributors such as Télé-Quebec later joined the partnership.
Bell Media left the partnership after the company's rival service, Crave, expanded into the French-language market. As a result, all of their content previously found on Ici TOU.TV has since moved to the aforementioned service. The V section was also removed later on after Bell Media bought the brand from V Media Group (now Remstar Media Group); it was the only brand the latter company licensed to Ici TOU.TV.
Available contents and sections
editContents found on the service mostly include original series from Radio-Canada's television networks and streaming services, as well as acquisitions from other distributors. While some can be watched for free with advertisement, those with the Extra label require a paid subscription to the service so that it can be accessed. Following the website rebrand in May 2018, contents are placed into sections such as the following:
Current
edit- Création Ici Tou.tv
- Extra
- Véro.tv
- Zone Jeunesse
- Zone des petits
- Ici Radio-Canada Télé
- Ici Explora
- Ici ARTV
- Ici RDI
- Télé-Québec
- TV5/UnisTV/TV5MondePlus
- France tv
- rtbf.be
- ONF/NFB
- CBC Gem
Devices Supported
editThe ICI TOU.TV streaming platform supports access through most modern web browsers, as well as apps for iOS/iPadOS, Android and Android TV devices, Apple TV, Xbox One, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku and Telus Optik TV set top boxes. It was previously available as an app on LG and Samsung Smart TVs, Windows 8, Xbox 360 and Rogers Cable set top boxes.
Geo-Location and Availability
editICI TOU.TV is geo-located and is only available in Canada.
References
edit- ^ Therrien, Richard (2010-01-26). "Vos émissions à portée de main sur TOU.TV". Le Soleil (in French). Quebec City: Gesca Limitée. ISSN 0319-0730. Retrieved 2010-01-30.
- ^ Aude Boivin Filion (2010-01-27). "Quelles technologies utilise le portail TOU.TV de Radio-Canada?". Branchez-vous!. Archived from the original on 2010-02-11. Retrieved 2010-02-08..
- ^ "Le minister Moore reticent au changement de nom de Radio-Canada". Radio-Canada.ca (in French). Société Radio-Canada. June 5, 2013. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
- ^ "New Brand Architecture" (PDF). News Releases. CBC/Radio-Canada French Services. June 6, 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 23, 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
- ^ "Are Quebec media slightly ahead of our time?". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2018-06-07.
External links
edit- Official website (in French)