FIC Unveils AsiaPac OTT Deals

BALI: FOX International Channels (FIC) is set to make its flagship FOX, FOX Sports and National Geographic Channel brands available via OTT SVOD, linear streaming and catch-up with select partners in Japan, China, Malaysia and the Philippines.

The deals with Japan's Avex, China's Tencent, Malaysia's Astro and the Philippines' Cignal were announced at the Asia Pacific Video Operators Summit (APOS) in Bali. Zubin Gandevia, president of FOX International Channels Asia Pacific and the Middle East, noted, “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.”
 
He added, "FIC is proud to have FOX, FOX Sports and National Geographic Channel, three of the world’s biggest entertainment brands that have helped make pay TV a household name. That makes FIC well positioned to help our partners bring in new audiences to their OTT services, and we look forward to doing so.”
 
Rieko Muramoto, corporate executive for the digital business at Avex Digital, noted, "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. We could only make this happen by partnering with FIC."

Tencent's corporate VP Sun Zhonghuai called the FIC pact a "great example of working with market leaders who share our mission to deliver the best-possible content and experience to users, and further demonstrates that Tencent is the partner of choice for visionaries like FIC as they seek to provide high-quality video content to China’s huge consumer market.”
 
CK Lee, VP of the sports business at Astro, noted, "This deal enables us to reach out to new fans through over the top."

"This partnership is a milestone and something to look forward to in the content, pay TV, broadband and mobile space," said Noel Lorenzana, CEO of Cignal parent Mediaquest.