ITV

Category: Over The Top Services

  • Chanpreet Arora appointed CEO of Vice Media India

    Chanpreet Arora appointed CEO of Vice Media India

    MUMBAI: Vice Media India has a new sheriff in town. Chanpreet Arora has been appointed as the CEO of the company and is working from the Vice office in Delhi. A veteran with 15 years of experience as a consultant and as an entrepreneur, she has charted strategy and operations along with framing macro policy for regulators in India.

    Arora has been shifted to current role from her position as the head of revenue strategy and sales operations at Times Internet. At Times Internet, she set up the revenue strategy and sales operations division in 2016 and was a part of the core team that led the restructuring of the company, according to her LinkedIn profile. 

    Arora joined the Vice operations earlier this month.

    As a business and strategy expert, Arora has helped redefine and restructure some of the most reputed entities in media, sports and digital in India and abroad.

    In India, Vice Media has partnered the Times of India in a bid to accelerate the business in the country. In June 2017, the US-headquartered company received a capital infusion of $450 million.

    Known for its online videos and edgy reporting, Vice operates a popular YouTube channel and produces news programming for Time Warner’s HBO.

    Also Read:

    Vice Media to build largest OTT platform, expand to 80 markets by early ’18

    VICE India hires Pragya Tiwari as content head and OML’s Samira Kanwar as head – video

  • Hooq to maintain its Hollywood focus in India

    Hooq to maintain its Hollywood focus in India

    MUMBAI: Content differentiates the platform and hook the consumers. To become a differentiator, VoD platform Hooq differentiated its offering by not diluting its energy into various verticals.

    In an interaction with Indiantelevision.com, Hooq MD India Salil Kapoor said, “We have the best of Hollywood and locals in all the markets, whereas in India, we are focusing only on Hollywood.”

    “We took this call because there are 25-30 players as far as the Indian market is concerned, and the cost of content is significantly high as compared to other market primarily for the local content. In India, broadcasters and several other players focusing on the local content that has pushed the price of the local content higher. So, we decided that instead of trying and win in every vertical, i.e., Hollywood, Bollywood, Local-Regional and Original, it would be better to concentrate our energy on one,” he added.

    Hooq, which offers content in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and India, is one of the cheapest video-on-demand offerings in India with Rs 89 per month subscription pack, which lets viewers stream and download up to 10, 000 movies and 78 TV shows. Its content includes films owned and distributed by Sony and Warner Bros, such as Wonder Woman, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Baby Driver, Suicide Squad, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

    Kapoor said that the platform has recently launched an additional service in India which will allow viewers to watch the latest Hollywood offerings just after their theatrical release. “We have launched TVoD service in India, in which latest movies (after theatrical release) can be watched on Hooq in a little amount of about Rs 59, while TV shows and other movies will be a part of subscription package.”

    In 2018, Hooq will shift its focus towards providing content in various regional languages. Talking briefly about the same, Kapoor said, “We have launched Spiderman home coming in four languages – English, Hindi, Telugu and Tamil. This is something we will do in coming time. We are going to build up a lot of dubbed movies in our systems, so that people around the country can get taste of it.”

    “Although, English content is very popular on Hooq but we also want to give our subscribers an option of watching dubbed content, i.e., content in their own language. We have observed that people are liking it and we have observed the consumption of dubbed content picking up on website as well. However, apart from English, we see a lot of traction in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu as far as consumer interest is concerned.”

    Hooq has different sources of attracting subscribers, one is through the deals with Vodafone and Airtel in which customers get free access to Hooq, and on the other side, they have the partnership with ACT Fibernet, which is a broadband player. While discussing about their distribution partnerships, Kapoor said, “We get a lot of subscribers from partners and we are planning to get into partnership with smartphone brands. We get a large chunk of customers from B to C and from B to B to C.” Currently, Hooq is in partnership with Vodafone, Airtel, ACT Fibernet and ICICI Credit Card, and Hooq will be announcing couple of tie ups soon as they currently are in advanced discussion level. Mobile handset brands like Samsung, Xiaomi and Motorola-Lenovo are on top three positions in terms of usage of watching content on Hooq.

    Salil Kapoor has shifted his focus from D2h to OTT. While talking about the future of television, he said that television is not going anywhere in near future. He said, “OTT is complimentary to the television, a lot of people are shifting from watching TV in standard manner to watching it online.”

    In 2018, the trend will move towards three directions according to Kapoor, which will include – first, TV shows becoming more popular than movies like Live TV or catch up TV is already picking up; second, the numbers of people getting engaged from mobile phone is high, however, the relation of engagement is much higher in the large screens, i.e., TV, will continue to grow, and third is that more and more people want to watch it on demand, so, hardware based boxes through which they can get television interface like Chromecast, dongle, and more will grow very fast. He said that international content is anyway growing In India but regional content consumption will grow fast in 2018.

    Also Read:

    Indian filmmaker among 6 selected for Hooq

    Hooq plans to invest $2 million on original Indian content

  • Amazon Prime Music ties up with Saregama

    Amazon Prime Music ties up with Saregama

    MUMBAI: Amazon announced its partnership with Saregama to stream the label’s catalog of 117,000 tracks on Amazon Prime Music when the ad-free music streaming service launches in India.Saregama has one of the largest and the most coveted Indian music selections across multiple Indian languages. It offers a quintessential collection of classics with a catalogue dating back to the era of first talkie film – Raja Harishchandra. Prime members will soon be able to easily discover and listen to melodies on Amazon Prime Music from movies like Guide, Don, Kati Patang, Waqt, CID; contributions from legends like Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammad Rafi, Jagjit Singh, Ghulam Ali, M. S. Subbulakshmi, Asha Bhosle, R.D Burman, Kishore Kumar, and more artists; and have fun with songs like “Ek Chatur Naar” or fall in love with “Ajeeb Dastan hai ye”.

    Amazon Music India director Sahas Malhotra commented, “We are excited to partner with Saregama to add classics over the decades in several Indian languages to boost our always expanding Indian and International catalogue. At launch, Amazon Prime Music listeners will enjoy hundreds of especially hand-curated playlists across their favorite eras, genres, and artists”.

    Saregama India. MD Vikram Mehra said, “Music streaming has fast emerged as one of the foremost ways of consuming music in India. We are excited to partner with Amazon Prime Music, in bringing our extensive and rich catalogue of songs from our label – Saregama, to their platform, ensuring that we reach out to the fast-growing base of Prime members. We believe this digital experience would only enhance the level of popularity of our songs across a wide demographic of people in India.” 

    Saregama, with a catalogue size of more than 117,000 Tracks across 15000 albums, has one of the most comprehensive collections of evergreen songs, ghazals, regional classics, Hindustani, Carnatic and devotional music in India. It has an impressive repertoire across Hindi and regional languages such as Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and many more. 

  • Leaving a Job is never easy, Hotstar gives you the best ways to #QuitInStyle

    Leaving a Job is never easy, Hotstar gives you the best ways to #QuitInStyle

    MUMBAI: In a field as exciting and opportunity-abundant as technology, a job that’s mediocre, mundane or downright mechanical just won’t cut it anymore. But, there’s never really an easy way to say goodbye. Is there? With its new #QuitInStyle series, Hotstar, India’s leading premium streaming platform, comes to the rescue with out-of-the-box, innovative, yet brutally honest resignation letters. 

    Taglined ‘Dare. Don’t Stay There’, the campaign showcases unconventional ways to bid adieu to your existing jobs and join the incredible Hotstar tech team to build the future of online video for the world. 

    public://ninja.jpg

    Not all heroes wear capes. In an attempt to save the country, one disgruntled employee at a time, ‘Code Ninja’ dons a superhero persona and breaks free from the shackles of a routine workplace. Whether it’s through the countless work Whatsapp groups, e-mails, or in a blaze of glory, the campaign urges people to always #QuitInStyle. 

    The creatives strike a chord with the crème de la crème of the tech fraternity and paint a vivid picture of the exhilarating opportunities that await people who join the company. Launched as India’s singular destination for live sports, and a wide collection of movies and shows in 9 languages, Hotstar has registered stupendous growth, skyrocketing from 100 mn to 350 mn downloads in the year 2017 alone. The company is inviting people who dare to be a part of the team that is venturing into territories no video streaming platform has dared to before. 

    The campaign will run across Hotstar’s social media platyforms till 22nd January 2018. For more information, please visit the microsite: https://tech.hotstar.com/

  • Turner International announces SVOD service FilmStruck

    Turner International announces SVOD service FilmStruck

    MUMBAI: Turner International’s Digital Ventures & Innovation (DV&I) Group and Warner Bros Digital Networks (WBDN) have announced a joint venture to launch a new, multi-territory movie-streaming service called FilmStruck.

    FilmStruck’s launch in the international marketplace will leverage the strength of assets at both companies, bringing together a broad and diverse movie catalogue as well as long-standing expertise in programming and curation. The service will draw primarily on the extensive Warner Bros library and the Criterion Collection library as well as other global and local content partners.

    FilmStruck will offer film lovers a broad collection of high-quality and critically-acclaimed movies across many categories – mainstream, cult, independent, classics, art house, foreign and documentary film. The eclectic but highly accessible content will also feature curated themes, exclusive bonus material including cast interviews, Criterion original mini-documentaries and hosted introductions, and original artwork.

    The UK is the joint venture’s initial launch market in what is planned as a multi-market roll out over the next two years.

    FilmStruck Curzon is expected to roll out in the UK in the coming weeks and will be available on demand on most phones and tablets, online and on TV via streaming devices.

    The UK service will launch in association with iconic cinema brand Curzon as Filmstruck Curzon and will feature a branded Curzon area within the service curated including access to titles from the Curzon Artificial Eye film library. The agreement with Curzon also includes opportunities to leverage its established market position, experience, and consumer base and cinema operations and to launch additional Curzon branded cinema services in other markets.

    “We’re thrilled to take this significant step together as a joint venture with Warner Bros Digital Networks, after many years of growing collaboration across various other projects with Warner Bros. as a whole,” said DV&I EVP Aksel van der Wal. “FilmStruck helps us realise a shared vision for what we see as a clear gap in the market for film lovers around the world. We’re also delighted to be working with a partner of Curzon’s heritage and prestige.”

    Warner Bros Digital Networks president business and strategy Craig Hunegs said, “International film fans now have a new home for a wide and diverse range of movies including some of Warner Bros.’ most iconic titles. Digital Networks is very excited to partner with Aksel and the Turner team to do this in an even more direct and compelling way.”

    Curzon digital venture director Philip Mordecai said, “Curzon is thrilled to be joining at this early stage and see this collaboration as a further marker in our commitment to premium consumer services in the UK and internationally.”

    The international expansion of Turner’s SVOD service FilmStruck marks Turner’s growing activity in the space outside of the US, and is its first SVOD service in the general entertainment space. Turner International now offers three international SVOD brands, with EI Plus in Brazil and the recently launched Nordics brand Toonix respectively providing sports and kids & family OTT products.

    The addition of FilmStruck to its international portfolio of brands is also part of Turner’s wider strategy to do more in the OTT space and expand its options to create fan-centric experiences that engage new audiences.

    Also Read :

    Times Bridge invests in MUBI streaming service

    Alibaba’s India OTT may launch in three months

     

  • Intertrust and Jjadooz announce partnership to deliver virtual reality experiences to indian cinemas

    Intertrust and Jjadooz announce partnership to deliver virtual reality experiences to indian cinemas

    MUMBAI: Intertrust Technologies Corporation, the world’s leading provider of digital rights management and secure content delivery solutions, and Jadooz, a provider of Virtual Reality (VR) content, today announced a partnership to bring the first of its kind VR entertainment to cinemas in mid-size cities across India.  Jadooz VR will use Intertrust Kiora™, an all-in-one offline content delivery platform that will bring first-run movies to cinemas to create a novel entertainment destination for movies and gaming. 

    The creation of industry leaders across the fields of content, technology, virtual reality, and gaming, Jadooz will bridge the entertainment divide across emerging markets. Jadooz is focused on revolutionizing the e-sports, sportainment, and edutainment audience segments.

    Bangalore-based Kiora provides a revolutionary software and hardware system combining world-class secure digital rights management with a content distribution architecture designed to distribute content over its own local wi-fi network. Kiora’s secure and open content delivery platform will empower Jadooz to deliver content through the cloud. Providing a seamless content streaming experience with Kiora Freestyle™, viewers will be able to simultaneously stream hours of content at 90 frames per second at a speed of 120Mbps. 

    “The main inhibiter to VR adoption is poor connectivity,” said Anahita Poonegar, General Manager, India at Intertrust. “Audiences exposed to HD TV quality expect VR content to have close to zero latency.  Jadooz has an innovative solution that focuses on ensuring a great user experience for these audiences, and Kiora helps them deliver this novel customer experience.”

    Co-Founders, Rahul Nehra and Rajat Ojha added, “Jadooz will transform the way entertainment is consumed across emerging markets and will bring the world of HD-VR-AR-MR within arm’s length of a common man. We are excited about our partnership with a global leader like Intertrust we and look forward to bridging this entertainment divide together.”

    Gaming Guru Justin Berenbaum observed, “Jadooz will be the next-door entertainment destination and this game changer will help bring a new world of experience to one and all.”

  • Times Bridge invests in MUBI streaming service

    Times Bridge invests in MUBI streaming service

    MUMBAI: The investment arm of the Times of India group, Times Bridge, and Danish film-maker Nicolas Winding Refn have invested in specialty streaming service MUBI. The terms of the deal remain undisclosed but are understood to be similar to the revised arrangements under which China’s Huanxi Media became a backer in November 2016 according to a Variety.com report. In that deal, Huanxi paid $2 million for a 1.6 per cent ownership stake, valuing MUBI at $125 million.

    Unlike the global leaders in streaming with all-you-can-eat content menus, MUBI operates by operating a limited and rotating selection of just 30 movies. It contends that curation (selection by humans, not algorithm) creates a community of active users. After 10 years in operation, it currently claims 8 million registered users.

    Times Bridge, which counts stakes in Uber, Vice and AirBnB, regards the investment as strategic. It will provide MUBI with local knowledge, talent outreach and commercial and festival partnerships. India, which is currently waking up to streaming video, already represent MUBI’s third largest market. Subscriptions are sold at Rs 500 per month in India and at $8.99 in the U.S.

    “MUBI is an original idea with a decade’s worth of proven appeal amongst fans of independent cinema worldwide. Film is inextricably linked to India’s heritage and, in a country with rapidly-changing tastes, we are confident that the MUBI platform will delight a meaningful audience seeking high-quality, curated, global cinema,” said Rishi Jaitly, CEO of Times Bridge.

    Winding is expected to provide advocacy and add brand value to the company which already counts Working Title’s Eric Fellner as an angel investor. Winding Refn previously produced new brand identity for MUBI.

    “Times Bridge have shown a highly sophisticated understanding of our business and our goals in the region. India is a unique opportunity for us to engage with a passionate community with deep cultural ties to film,” said MUBI’s founder and CEO Efe Cakarel, in a statement.

    Also Read :

    Alibaba’s India OTT may launch in three months

    Vernacular content consumers to be 2.5 times English by 2021: Deloitte 

  • TiVo’s new deal with Google includes YouTube TV

    TiVo’s new deal with Google includes YouTube TV

    MUMBAI: TiVo Corporation, a global player in entertainment technology and audience insights, today announced that Google has expanded its multi-year patent licence agreement to include YouTube TV. The agreement covers Google’s use of TiVo’s patented technologies worldwide and offers a license for Google’s products and services across internet-based platforms and devices.

    “The world of video entertainment is expanding with exciting new consumer offerings such as YouTube TV,” said Rovi Corporation (a TiVo company) EVP and chief intellectual property officer Arvin Patel. “We are thrilled to extend our relationship with Google through the licence of TiVo’s innovations and technology that further consumers’ ability to find and enjoy content on the device of their choice.”

    Also Read :

    TiVo’s next-gen solution to help cable operators retain customers

    100 mn hrs of YouTube viewed on TV: Google CEO Sundar Pichai

  • Viu set to launch musical drama spotlight 2 on 26th January

    Viu set to launch musical drama spotlight 2 on 26th January

    MUMBAI: Viu, the premium video-on-demand platform by Vuclip, a PCCW media company announced the launch of Spotlight 2 making this a franchise of the successful Viu Originals series Spotlight. Presented in association with known writer and director Vikram Bhatt, the theme of the franchise is a running series that captures the rise, fall and resurrection of a music superstar. 

    An intense and stormy romance between two headstrong people on the opposite ends of the spectrum – Spotlight 2 explores the exasperating reality of being a music celebrity. The series is being directed by Siddhant Sachdeva and will feature popular television actor Karan V Grover along with two dazzling former Miss India’s , Aditi Arya and Ruhi Singh. Focusing on compelling content offered in a contemporary setting, the series will feature more than 7 originally composed tracks brought to life by soulful musicians Harish Sanganay, Ankit Shah and other popular artists. The show goes live on Viu (Both App and The Web) from 26th January 2018.

    Based on the buzzing music industry in Mumbai, Spotlight 2 is a story of a talented but flamboyant musician, Vicky, who is on the verge of career-suicide. His hard work and melodious voice helped him climb the ladder of success in the music industry in a very short span of time. But his arrogance, drug addiction and utter disregard for the industry and his fans brings him crashing down. The story is the journey of this lost character with a heart of gold trying to connect back with his music with the help of his ex-girlfriend and how he rises back from the fall.

    Speaking on the launch of Spotlight franchise, Viu India, Head of Programming, Manasi Sapre said, “At Viu, we focus on creating compelling content and a viewing experience that captivates our audience and is relatable at the same time. We are able to provide this content because we associate with extremely capable and talented people from all walks of life. With Spotlight 2, we celebrate the great journey we have taken on with Vikram Bhatt. We are excited to launch the Spotlight franchise and in the upcoming months, you will see a lot more original shows from Viu that will surely going to excite the audience.”

    Speaking on the release of Spotlight 2, Vikram Bhatt says, “When Spotlight 1 was a success, I was confident I will make another one. Spotlight 2 chronicles a musician’s journey as he falls to fame, and then, strives to make a comeback. A story that encapsulates the loneliness that stardom brings along with the glitz and glamour in the life of a superstar. And the story is very apt for the digital platform. Today, the first screen of preference is the cell phone so it was only natural that I present this franchise to the audience on the web.”

    The 13 episode series which can be binged watched on 26th January 2018, will mark the launch of the twelfth original series by Viu. With shows like Gehraiyaan, PillA, Pelli Gola and Social, Viu is ceaselessly introducing refreshing concepts combined with gripping scripts and revered talent to ensure an exhilarating viewing experience for their viewers. Since its successful launch in India last year, Viu has witnessed exponential growth in terms of the audience base and engagement.

  • Alibaba’s India OTT may launch in three months

    Alibaba’s India OTT may launch in three months

    MUMBAI: According to a report by The Ken, Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba has announced plans to launch an over-the-top (OTT) video service in India over the next three months. The service will be introduced in partnership with its Indian investee company Paytm and mobile Internet subsidiary UCWeb, the report said.

    However, in a statement made to Indian Television Dot Com, an Alibaba Group spokesperson said: “India is key in our globalization strategy and we are very committed to growing our existing businesses in this market in the long term. As a policy we do not comment on market speculation.”

    “It’s an obligatory play. The global player does it so we have no option but to follow it,” the report quoted a senior Paytm official as saying.

    Over the last several months, Jack Ma-led Alibaba has reportedly been scouring the Indian market looking for quality content creators and production houses in Mumbai.

    The ecommerce behemoth is also reportedly in the process of hiring a strategic alliance head in Gurugram as well as a strategic alliance head for Video in either Mumbai or Gurugram.

    Both of these positions would fall under the Alibaba-owned UCWeb’s business, sources have revealed. It is, however, believed that the move will be spearheaded locally by Damon Xi, head of UCWeb India and Indonesia.

    Currently, Alibaba has two contest-based products in India – mobile browser UCWeb and We-Media, which together boast over 200 Mn users. Launched in March 2017 with an initial investment of Rs 5 crore ($782000), We-Media is a UCWeb-operated platform wherein users can post their own content in the form of articles, photos and videos.

    Alibaba currently has a formidable presence in the Chinese OTT video market through Youku Tudou, which it acquired in 2015. Youku and Tudou are, essentially, two free video sites like YouTube that were merged in 2012.

    Also Read:

    Amazon India to launch 10 originals in 2018

    Aastha TV to launch OTT, VOD service