VMedia IPTV license amended to cover all of Ontario

That was fast!

VMedia recently launched their IPTV service, and just a few weeks later they've been given approval by the CRTC to expand their service to cover what looks like all of Ontario.

You can read all of the details in the CRTC decision (2013-193), but I'll save you some time and list the new areas: Barrie, Hamilton-Niagara, Kingston, London, Oshawa, Ottawa, Peterborough, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, and Windsor. That includes the "surrounding areas" for all of those municipalities.

VMedia applied for permission to amend their broadcasting license in mid-January, so even with the CRTC's "streamlined" process for license amendments it still took a few months, but that's a lot faster than things used to move through the CRTC.

It looks like the VMedia website has already been updated to reflect the news, so if you were anxiously waiting for them to offer service in your Ontario town, click here for the details: http://www.vmedia.ca/cart/.

As I mentioned in my VMedia IPTV article a few weeks ago and my Zazeen IPTV article in January, even though the technology involved works over the Internet in a fashion similar to Netflix, the contractual strings attached by the CRTC and the media owners limit VMedia/Zazeen to serving customers of their own ISP or a partner. In other words, you'll most likely have to switch Internet providers in order to be able to use VMedia or Zazeen for TV.

If you're not stuck in a contract or bundle with another company, the good news is that VMedia has very attractive no-contract pricing for their Internet service. Aside from the one-time cost of switching, you'll probably be much better off - getting either more speed, usage allowance, or both for less money. Their 45Mbit / unlimited-usage cable Internet package @ $52.95/month has me very tempted...