Canada’s Quickplay said this week it was behind a new Netflix style OTT video service to be launched across Asia – it is called HOOQ and is a joint venture between Singtel, Sony Pictures Television and Warner Brothers.
Quickplay has a multi-year managed services agreement and HOOQ will offer access to premium Hollywood and local movies and TV series through streaming, with multi-language support and with offline viewing options on any device or platform of choice.
Quickplay’s deal included the provision of DRM using Microsoft PlayReady and Verimatrix VCAS as well as a system of user entitlements from Evergent Technologies. It will protect premium content from Hollywood as well as Asia.
HOOQ has so far only been launched in the Philippines, and can be viewed by customers out of home, either streamed or downloaded. HOOQ will roll out across Singtel’s entire Asian footprint, including the Philippines, Indonesia, India and Thailand eventually reaching something close to 1 billion people.
QuickPlay, in partnership with Evergent, will leverage Singtel Group’s telco billing relationships across Asia, so that consumers can use a range of payments including mobile post-pay contracts and pre-paid credits. In emerging markets where credit card ownership is limited, this feature is a critical enabler to overall adoption and accessibility.
“We are proud to enable this ground-breaking premium OTT video service for HOOQ,” said Wayne Purboo, CEO and Founder of Quickplay. “This is the largest OTT deployment of its kind in Asia – this level of scale and complexity is unmatched and is a service that Quickplay is uniquely positioned to deliver on. The HOOQ will sale up to a footprint covering over a billion people.
Quickplay has successfully launched multiscreen video services for Verizon, and AT&T in the US, and Rogers, Bell and Telus in Canada.