SM Prime, Solar ink video-on-demand deal

Property giant SM Prime Holdings Inc. has entered the digital media space in partnership with the Tiengs’ Solar Entertainment Corp. using the latter’s video-on-demand (VOD) platform “Blink.”

SMPH, the country’s largest cinema exhibitor through SM Lifestyle & Entertainment Inc. (SMLEI), signed on Thursday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Omni Digital Ventures Inc., the digital media group of Solar Entertainment, as a prelude to a joint venture for the VOD business.

The SMPH unit will get a 60-percent interest in the venture while the Solar group will keep 40 percent, SMLEI president Edgar Tejerero said in a briefing on Thursday, adding that this provided a “glimpse of the future of entertainment.”

“This partnership is just the start of a multi-platform partnership which will continue to evolve and adapt to the needs of the market and the latest technology, with the customer as our paramount inspiration,” Tejerero added.

“What we’re trying to do is make the pie bigger. We’re reaching out to more consumers. We’re very positive and very supportive,” SMPH president Hans Sy told reporters after the MoU signing.

Blink is a VOD streaming technology that allows the consumer to watch a variety to content such as movies, TV series, news, special events and other content anytime anywhere using gadgets such as mobile phones, tablets, computers and smart television sets.

Content can be purchased via credit, debit card and will be integrated into SM Advantage, BDO Rewards as well as the Sun and Smart mobile payment partnership.

“Today’s MoU signing does not only guarantee the synergy of the two biggest (entertainment) companies. More importantly, this gives us a glimpse of the future of entertainment. Technology has opened the gates for ultimate entertainment, being able to access movies, TV series, news and limited special events and music videos anytime anywhere using gadgets such as laptops or tablets, mobile phone and smart TVs,” Tejerero said.

“This gives the ultimate experience of convenience for movie lovers who may have missed films on their tactical run or who simply want to rekindle the feelings of watching their favorite movies again,” he said.

The deal thus extends the life of movies from cinemas to VOD alongside Solar’s library. This platform will retail movies at P60 to P99 each. Solar orders about 550 movies a year and 2,500 hours of TV series, said Ronan de Guzman, chief operating officer of Blink.

He added that local films produced by outfits such as Viva and Regal would likewise be included in the library soon.

Blink has about 30,000 users mostly using the mobile phone payment channel under mobile phone providers Smart and Sun.

With SMLEI joining Blink, the payment channel will now include debit and credit cards and will be integrated into SM Advantage Card and BDO Rewards. For registered users, five Solar TV channels will be offered for free.

For every P100 paid by the consumer for this service, 50 percent automatically goes to the content-maker like Hollywood production outfits while about 30 percent is spent to ensure quality and security of audio and video.

The margin of 20 percent will be shared on a 60-40 percent basis by SMLEI and Omni, respectively.