Zip.ca

2000s: inception

Zip.ca began its rental operations in February 2004, from its base of operations in Ottawa, Ontario. In July 2005, it arranged to provide the fulfillment services for Rogers Video Direct, a new online subsidiary of one of Canada's largest video store chains. By February 2006, Zip.ca had over 30,000 subscribers. In December 2006, Zip.ca announced passing the 6,000,000 disc rental milestone.

2010s: kiosk debut

Zip.ca's movie rental kiosks were introduced in 2010.

Abandoned digital service

In July 2009, Zip.ca announced it had partnered with Sonic Solutions as it prepared to offer a streaming video on demand (VOD) service similar to that introduced in the U.S. in 2007 by its largest American counterpart, Netflix. In May 2011, after Netflix's 2010 Canadian launch as a streaming-only service, Zip.ca announced a further partnership with Samsung, and said its service would launch as a transactional VOD platform, not as a subscription service. The service remained unlaunched at the time of the company's closure in 2014.

On August 30, 2005, Zip.ca announced that it was buying out the online operations of its then main Canadian rival, VHQonline.ca, and has also picked up assets from other companies going out of business.