PLDT seen jacking up investment in video streaming company

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., the country’s biggest telecommunication services provider, may increase its investment in video streaming company iflix, which is mapping out expansion plans across the region and beyond, chair Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

iflix held last Wednesday its commercial launch in the Philippines, the first country in the region where the service has been rolled out. It aims to offer consumers more than 11,000 hours of popular movies and television shows from the United States and Asia. The service costs P99 per month for about 75 million subscribers of PLDT Home and PLDT’s wireless unit Smart.

Pangilinan said during the event that iflix was looking to expand to more countries this year and that PLDT was ready to support the effort. PLDT owns an undisclosed stake in iflix after investing $15 million in it earlier this year.

“They are looking at two or three countries here in Asia (for expansion),” Pangilinan told reporters.

“It’s pretty much the model of Rocket Internet in the video space,” Pangilinan added, referring to the Berlin, Germany-based Internet company where PLDT also has a minority position.

PLDT, through its media arm, has been expanding its content investments, as it mulls the revival of a deal with GMA Network Inc., on top of existing assets like TV5 and various newspapers it owns.

In a separate statement, PLDT said iflix would “soon” be available to other areas like Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand, and Japan as well as the United States, where it would compete with video streaming giant Netflix.

PLDT said in a separate statement that the Philippine launch of iflix comes at spot-on timing since it recently secured topline content deals with giant Hollywood studios The Walt Disney Company, Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution (Fox), BBC Worldwide (BBC) and Warner Bros. International Television Distribution (Warner Bros.).

This means that on top of existing over 11,000 hours of TV serial titles and updated catalogue of Hollywood, European and Asian releases, shows like “Sherlock,” “Doctor Who,” “Homeland” and “The Big Bang Theory” are now part of iflix’s growing library, PLDT said.

For movies, iflix beefs up its Hollywood selection with action blockbusters like “Star Trek,” “Batman Begins” and “Green Lantern,” among thousands of other choices.

Officials from PLDT and iflix welcomed this next step in their partnership, a statement on Thursday showed.

“This is literally entertainment everywhere,” said PLDT executive vice president and consumer Business Group Head Ariel P. Fermin said in the statement.

“In PLDT we have found a like-minded partner who is committed to changing the way entertainment content is consumed in the region. We look forward to building an extraordinary business in the Philippines together,” iflix chair Patrick Grove said.