Lionsgate India managing director Rohit Jain
Lionsgate, Sony Pictures Partner for OTT Video in India
November 1, 2018
Lionsgate India and Sony Pictures Network are partnering to kick off next week’s Diwali Festival with the launch of Lionsgate Play on the SonyLIV streaming video platform.
SonyLIV — a Mumbai-based video-on-demand service owned by Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt. Ltd. — claims to be one of the largest local broadcast-owned OTT video platforms in India in terms of viewership and consumption. It is renowned for TV series “Indian Idol” and “Kaun Banega Crorepati” (“Who Wants to Be A Millionaire”), among others and also licenses the rights to sports programming in the territory. Additionally, SonyLIV is home to fitness, original Web series and movies.
The Lionsgate Play app will launch with more than 500 hours of Starz and Lionsgate original series, including Power, Vida, Sweetbitter, The White Queen, The White Princess and the eagerly-anticipated The Spanish Princess, along with popular Lionsgate library titles such as Crash, Manhattan, Wildfire, Are We There Yet? and Chasing Life.
The offering will be bundled within SonyLIV’s current slate of programming, significantly enhancing their premium English-language offering to customers. Powered by a combination of Starz original programming, premium Lionsgate content and a deep library, the Lionsgate Play launch is the latest step in the continued expansion of Lionsgate and Starz platforms around the world.
Starz has launched channels in the UK, Germany, Canada, Italy, France and Spain and is part of the leading subscription video on demand (SVOD) service in the Middle East and North Africa. Lionsgate has recently announced major content licensing agreements in Australia and Latin America.
“Our collaboration is the latest milestone in elevating our brand in India, and we’re delighted to kick off our partnership with a robust portfolio of Lionsgate and Starz programming,” Rohit Jain, managing director at Lionsgate India, said in a statement.
Sony India has a long history of distributing English-language content in the region, according to Jain.
“Consumption of English-language content is still at its early stages in this market and, with this collaboration, we’re well positioned to fulfill that latent demand,” he said.