FOX International Channels (FIC) has announced the launch its Over-the-Top (OTT) service to the South Asian market in partnership with Avex in Japan, Tencent and its OTT partners in China, Astro in Malaysia and Cignal in the Philippines. Announcing this at the recent Asia Pacific Operators’ Summit, FOX said that it will bring its key brands FOX, FOX Sports and National Geographic Channel via the OTT service which also includes other value added services from SVOD and linear streaming to catch-up TV.
The South Asian OTT/Internet TV market is seeing huge traction lately, especially among the South East Asia countries where few major partnerships were announced recently. HOOQ, a new OTT service offered jointly by Singtel, Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros was launched in the Philippines in February this year in partnership with Globe Telecom.
Another OTT TV startup in the region, iflix, has completed a $30 million round of funding led by an investment firm, the Catcha Group and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), in its preparation to introduce the OTT service across the Southeast Asia region. The market is also expecting the entry of Netflix to the region, after the OTT giant's recent debut in Australia and New Zealand.
Zubin Gandevia, President, FOX International Channels Asia Pacific and the Middle East
We are excited to be partnering with Avex, Tencent, Astro and Cignal. It is our mission to work with our platform partners to grow their subscriber base. The online, on-demand opportunity is the new frontier and we hope our innovative new products will help our partners tap into a new segment of consumers who do not have pay TV today.
Rieko Muramoto, Corporate Executive, Digital Business, Avex Digital In
We are very pleased that we are able to deliver the latest world’s entertainment to Japanese viewers and also being a world pioneer in the VOD industry by offering a hybrid service that offers content on both a linear and on-demand basis.
Noel Lorenzana, CEO, Mediaquest
FOX content has always been one of the most popular destinations for programming in the payTV space. The PLDT, Smart and Cignal group have been in the forefront of providing the best entertainment using the best connectivity for the largest subscriber base in the Philippines. This partnership is a milestone and something to look forward to in the content, payTV, broadband and mobile space.
