FEATURES
Platforms: MNC Play Media
03 September 2014
3 September 2014: Analysts might not be over the moon about the short/medium term profit prospects of OTT, but there's clearly no shortage of companies in Asia willing to give multi-screen options a go. Malena Amzah spoke to 19 online/OTT platforms in the region about what they have, what they would like to have, and the biggest things they think are standing in their way. Analysts might not be over the moon about the short/medium term profit prospects of OTT, but there’s no shortage of companies in Asia willing to give multi-screen options a good go. This includes established free- and pay-TV broadcasters, who are moving lock, stock and tech barrel into non traditional delivery, leveraging the rights they own in new spaces and creating – or hoping to – original content for online services. Channels and acquisitions execs are also pushing hard for as many rights as possible, hoping to drive online viewership, engagement and revenue. What are these and their stand-alone online platform rivals most concerned about? Interviews with 19 platforms* in Asia showed that piracy is the top concern along with access to and cost of rights, and censorship, which drives users away. Priorities include presenting a simple and easy-to-use entertainment service, available everywhere with broad content choices at the right price models and designs that serve multiple user groups’ needs. Here’s what else they said...MNC Play MediaMNC Media’s MNC Play Media was founded in January 2013 by Indonesia’s MNC media conglomerate, which also operates the country’s largest pay-TV platform and a bouquet of free-TV channels. The trial service on the broadband cable/fibre-based network started in June 2014 in some areas in Indonesia. The official launch date has not been announced."Capacity is no longer an issue on the FTTH platform. We can carry more HD channels... later on we can...
3 September 2014: Analysts might not be over the moon about the short/medium term profit prospects of OTT, but there's clearly no shortage of companies in Asia willing to give multi-screen options a go. Malena Amzah spoke to 19 online/OTT platforms in the region about what they have, what they would like to have, and the biggest things they think are standing in their way. Analysts might not be over the moon about the short/medium term profit prospects of OTT, but there’s no shortage of companies in Asia willing to give multi-screen options a good go. This includes established free- and pay-TV broadcasters, who are moving lock, stock and tech barrel into non traditional delivery, leveraging the rights they own in new spaces and creating – or hoping to – original content for online services. Channels and acquisitions execs are also pushing hard for as many rights as possible, hoping to drive online viewership, engagement and revenue. What are these and their stand-alone online platform rivals most concerned about? Interviews with 19 platforms* in Asia showed that piracy is the top concern along with access to and cost of rights, and censorship, which drives users away. Priorities include presenting a simple and easy-to-use entertainment service, available everywhere with broad content choices at the right price models and designs that serve multiple user groups’ needs. Here’s what else they said...MNC Play MediaMNC Media’s MNC Play Media was founded in January 2013 by Indonesia’s MNC media conglomerate, which also operates the country’s largest pay-TV platform and a bouquet of free-TV channels. The trial service on the broadband cable/fibre-based network started in June 2014 in some areas in Indonesia. The official launch date has not been announced."Capacity is no longer an issue on the FTTH platform. We can carry more HD channels... later on we can also customise channels for each city." Ade Tjendra, Chief Commercial Officer/Director, MNC Play MediaThe offering The IPTV platform over Fibre To The Home (FTTH) provides a quadruple-play integrated service consisting of interactive cable TV with 130+ channels HD ready, interactive new media (featuring home automation, interactive home shopping, interactive stock trading, etc), 2.5 Gbps ultra speed internet and telephony/video calls. Prices To be announcedTargeted users MNC Play Media targets retail and/or residential segments, SOHO (small office/home office) and corporate clients. Who’s driving the initiative Ade Tjendra, chief commercial officer/director; Gunawan Wicaksono, chief technology officer; Lidia Muchtar, chief financial officerGeo-blocks MNC Play Media IPTV service can only be delivered to users within its own FTTH network infrastructure in Indonesia.Tech partners Cisco for core net- work infrastructure, ZTE and Huawei for FTTH distribution and ZTE for IPTV middlewareWhat’s behind the name? “We call it Play Media because ‘Play’ is identical to entertainment and these are the main objectives of our services – to entertain our subscribers with many varieties of content and internet data services. Ultimately, we also want to deliver quadruple play.” [Ade Tjendra]Do you offer on-demand content?“Initially, the main TV service offering consists of linear and HD channels. We have yet to prepare for vid- eo-on-demand services, but it is within our plan to do so in the future.” [Ade Tjendra]Where does your content come from? “We share content with pay-TV platform MSKY, which operates three pay-TV brands – Indovision, Top TV and Okevision. Using S-band satellite technology, MSKY has more than 120 channels in its portfolio (of which around 33 are exclusive channels), including Fox Action Movies, Waku-Waku Japan, ZooMoo and Hits.What’s missing that you would like to add? “Since Play Media runs on the FTTH platform, capacity is no longer an issue. It can carry more HD channels, probably later on we can also customise channels for each city with its local TV channel. In the long run, Play Media will carry more on-line content.” [Ade Tjendra]Is there anything that has surprised you about the way people are using Play Media? “It is still too early [for] significant feedback from subscribers.” [Ade Tjendra]How are you using social media to expand your online presence? “Social media has always been a very important aspect of the online presence, especially in Indonesia where people use social media to interact and refer products and services. It is a way to encourage word of mouth, secondly, with forum; it has enabled us to directly interact with potential subscribers as well as getting real feed- back.” [Ade Tjendra]What’s the biggest challenge you have faced in 2014? Obstacles include permits to install the network infrastructure, especially in local communities, which have to be incentivised to support the network build and to take up the services.What are Play Media’s priorities for the rest of 2014? “Our priority is building the best network and launching it in 2014.” [Ade Tjendra]* All information and opinion was supplied by the platforms themselves and fact checked for accuracy as far as humanly possible. ContentAsia has not road-tested all the platforms and offers no opinion on how well any of them work or what the strengths and weaknesses are from a consumer perspective.Issue Three 2014