A new television subscription service is promising viewers first-release movies, hit
television series and personalised music playlists on demand when it goes commercial in
October. VOD:TV from SouthTel also plans to give local film producers and musicians an
alternative platform to distribute and test their products.
The owner and CEO of SouthTel, Oscar Dube, says although loosely based on the model
of US Video On Demand (VOD) service Netflix, the model used by SouthTel will be
“push-based’. This means that, instead of streaming the content to their decoder, it will
be “pushed’ to the end user at night or at times when there is spare broadband capacity
available, “taking away the headache of streaming in a context of limited capacity.’
The content will then be stored on the subscriber’s personal video recorder (PVR) until it
is deleted to make way for newer programmes.
Subscribers to VOD:TV will have access to some archived content as part of their
subscription, and will pay for premium content such as the latest movies when they
select and push the OK button. The basic subscription fee is projected at no more than
R200 per month.
Dube says the PVR recorder was specifically designed for SouthTel and an undisclosed
French partner, that will roll out the technology in Europe, since push VOD does not
currently exist in this particular format. The PVR control access system has already been
approved by some Hollywood studios to ensure the technology will protect the content
from piracy.
Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) spokesperson Paseka
Maleka says SouthTel VOD: TV was issued with a Class Electronic Communications
Service (Class ECS) licence in April 2011. “In terms of ICASA’s position paper in relation
to IPTV and VOD, a Class ECS licence is a requirement for the provision of VOD services
whether on a provincial or national basis,’ explains Maleka.
According to the Class ECS licence SouthTel is not allowed to rollout their own network,
but they are allowed to enter into a commercial agreement with any company that has
an Electronic Communications Network Service (ECNS) licence to provide a VOD service.
Dube says he cannot disclose the name of their network partner yet.
The new service will be aimed at higher Living Standards Measure (LSM) groups. “We
believe that there is a huge market for this, the technology is trendy so we’re expecting
a huge uptake,’ says Dube. The assumption is that, due to multimedia convergence, TV
viewers increasingly want to manage their time and watch the content they choose at a
time they select. Says Dube: “We want to offer convenience, more than anything else.’
When asked about potential problems of securing premium content, since pay-TV
operator MultiChoice has exclusive agreements with a number of international studios,
Dube says that they respect exclusivity agreements, but that there is still a lot of
content that is not shown to the South African public yet. They are currently in talks to
secure suitable content.
However, he emphasises that local content will also be a very important part of their
offering. Local filmmakers will be able to approach SouthTel and have their content
available on the PVR on a revenue share basis. The PVR will also give users an option to
rate or comment on the content, providing a valuable tool of feedback and customer
reaction to the filmmaker. “We’ll be looking for exciting local content of the right calibre,’
explains Dube.
Among the unique features promised by SouthTel VOD:TV is location based advertising.
Dube explains that a local pizza shop, supermarket or golf course will be able to
advertise only in their specific area.
SouthTel VOD: TV will also offer Internet access via 3G through embedded technology in
the PVR and a keyboard at the back of the remote control.
The company will launch a trial pilot of the service in Gauteng in July 2011, running
parallel to a trial pilot by their partner in France. The test will run for eight weeks with 60
PVRs distributed throughout Gauteng.
The launch of commercial services is planned for October, but Dube says they are taking
things step by step and not rushing to cover the entire country or to steal anyone’s
customers.
“I don’t want to be seen as MultiChoice or TopTV’s competition. What we’re offering is
something completely different, it could be seen as a complementary service,’ says
Dube.
MultiChoice has reacted to the imminent launch of VOD:TV by saying they welcome
competition in the pay TV market, since competition is good for the industry and for
viewer choice. While the pay TV giant is not ready to confirm the rumours of their own
VOD offering, they have said that they are planning a number of exciting new initiatives
this year, and told Screen Africa to “watch this space’.
