Corus CEO doesn’t fear Netflix Canada

It turns out that Corus CEO John Cassaday isn’t all that worried about the arrival of Netflix into Canada causing consumers to cut their premium cable subscriptions. He’s suggesting it may actually increase them.

In a report published by The Canadian Press, Cassaday — whose company owns specialty television and radio operations across Canada — believes that the streaming service won’t deter people from subscribing to pricier channels such as HBO and The Movie Network.

“Our belief is that new competitors will prove to be additive to the system as opposed to serving to carve up the pie,” Cassaday said.

Despite a recent deal that Netflix struck with Paramount that effectively meant the end of new titles from that studio on both Movie Central and The Movie Network, Cassaday remains confident that there is plenty of content to go around. Netflix already had other deals in place with several Hollywood studios, which is something that specialty pay TV channels in Canada have had to deal with since the service arrived in Canada in September of last year.

“We have extensive access to HBO programming and their library and Showtime, and there properties are exclusive to our pay window,” Cassaday explained, noting that Corus has other exclusive deals in place as well.

Netflix Canada has been slowly building up its content since its launch, and the fact that the service can deliver its content — licensed content — to multiple platforms such as iOS devices and gaming consoles like Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii doesn’t phase Cassaday.

“We believe that there is virtually an insatiable appetite for consumers to consume more media on a multitude of platforms,” he told analysts.

Of course, with what subscribers pay for television services consistently increasing and the available platforms that consumers can have content delivered on also making strides, there’s no reason for Cassaday to be scared now…is there?