Sony’s Crackle Opens Up To Canada

The Canadians can finally stop their whining. Well, at least curb it. Sony’s Crackle is now available in Canada, Sony Pictures Television’s Senior Vice President of Digital Networks Eric Berger announced today. Canadian-based Rogers Media will be handling ad sales across its online distribution channels as the exclusive agent in Canada.

“The partnership with Crackle.com enables Rogers Media to expand its video offering to consumers and offer advertisers high-quality branded environments,” said Claude Galipeau, SVP & GM, Digital Media at Rogers Media. “Rogers Digital Media is quickly becoming the go-to place for premium online video ad sales. We are thrilled to add this high-quality content to our already impressive stable of trusted brands.”

In addition to Canada-only premium video entertainment portal Rogers On Demand Online (imagine if Hulu were invented by Comcast), Crackle shows will also be distributed on YouTube, Boxee, Dailymotion, Metacafe and a slew of other partners.

“Through our expansion into Canada, Crackle continues to build upon its successful distribution and ad network,” said Berger. “We deliver the best content, from acclaimed originals to movie favorites that is selected and programmed with the seasoned viewer in mind.”

Sony has always looked to international markets for distribution, but until only recently it has kept its digital distribution domestic. Even on YouTube, Crackle programming is served through its proprietary Crackle player, “which provides content protection and consolidated, dynamic ad serving, available across all of its distributors.” The strategy with Urban Wolf, Angel of Death and The Bannen Way was to build interest online in the United States through a free ad-supported platform, and then shop the properties for foreign DVD and TV deals. Now it seems that Crackle is finding a way to expand its markets online.

Now if Hulu would only open its doors to the world.