All-you-can-read ‘Next Issue’ magazine app coming to Canada

Rogers Media is launching what it describes as the future of magazine content consumption with a service that serves up all-you-can-read access to 100 Canadian and U.S. titles for a monthly fee.

As part of the Next Issue Canada app, readers get access to Rogers’ magazines, including Maclean’s, Chatelaine, Today’s Parent and Sportsnet and U.S. magazines, such as Vogue, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair.

Other publications include GQ, Esquire, Fortune, Glamour, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated and Time.

The app will be available in Canada on Oct. 15 for the iPad, the Android tablet and Windows 8 devices. It will cost $9.99 a month for all monthly magazines, with the ability to browse new titles at no extra cost. There is also a $14.99-a-month service, which provides access to weekly publications in addition to monthly magazines. With either subscription, digital back issues are included.

Rogers Media president Keith Pelley said: “Our investment in Next Issue Canada reinforces our commitment to our digital future and the magazine industry.”

According to recent reports by trade association Magazines Canada, there are roughly 1,300 Canadian consumer magazines — more per capita than any other developed country.

Next Issue Canada’s newly appointed president Ken Whyte described the offering as the future of the magazine industry.

“It retains the best of print while making the content come to life vividly, giving readers a more personalized, interactive experience,” he said. “As a result, the magazine of today is even more powerful than the magazine of yesterday.”

The Next Issue Canada app will be in English first with a French version to follow in 2014, the companies said.

Rogers wireless and cable customers will get exclusive free access to the app until Dec. 15, at which point the rest of Canadians will be able to access the Next Issue Canada digital newsstand..

Rogers is the parent company of this station.