Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB), the largest free-to-air TV broadcaster in Hong Kong, has unveiled plans to offer new over-the-top (OTT) broadcast services starting early 2016.
The new service, which is a continuation of the existing myTV platform, will be offered based on free and paid models, said Cheong Shin Keong, executive director and general manager of TVB.
TVB will launch 13 new paid channels to carry a range of local and international TV shows from China, Japan and Korea, with a monthly subscription fee of less than HK$100 ($12.90).
These include a collection of 1,700 traditional dramas of TVB classic movies on an upcoming paid channel – TVB Classic Movies – scheduled for launch on April 4.
Subscribers of the new OTT service can also enjoy more than 25,500 hours of programming – of which 17,700 hours are TVB programs and 8,500 hours acquired from other content providers, Cheong added.
He said all the new content will be in high-definition and many of them will also support 4K.
All the channels will be available on television as well as various mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones, and subscribers are able to choose the subscription packages based on their own preferences.
Value-added services, such as personal profiles with viewing history, video-on-demand and catch up services, will also be included.
Cheong said the new platform aims to offer a diverse, convenient and high quality personalized TV service to provide a “new TV experience not only to TVB itself, but also to the audience of Hong Kong as a whole”.
As part of the deal, TVB has collaborated with Hutchison Global Communication (HGC) and 3 HK on sales and distribution of its new OTT services.
Cheong said the partnership with HGC and 3 HK is not exclusive. TVB is also seeking potential collaboration with other Internet players and telcos, such as PCCW and HKBN.
On the content side, he noted that the company is also open to working with content providers.
“Our goal is to build an open platform and we’re inviting all types of content providers to discuss with us the potential partnerships on the new platform, be it free or paid content,” Cheong added.