Alibaba, Tencent to invest in Whaley

Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings are planning to invest in a smart-TV start-up, Whaley Technology owned by China Media Capital, to jointly tap smart-TV ecosystem, reported Wall Street Journal.

Whaley which was launched earlier this year will launch TV sets this month. The TV sets are being designed by a Chinese team and made by TPV Technology, PC monitor and LCD TV manufacturer in China.

Alibaba and Tencent will also facilitate Whaley to develop content. Smart-TV sets will offer content that CMC owns and content from its partners namely Time Warner, Oriental DreamWorks, STAR China, China Sports Media and Hong Kong’s TVB. Over time, Whaley plans to add more content from various other partners.

“We want to disrupt and restructure this industry,” said Li Ruigang, Chairman of China Media Capital. According to him, Whaley was established with an aim to dominate the value chain, providing everything from content and manufacturing to distribution. Whaley’s business model involves collecting viewer data to help determine which products and services its customers might like, he added.

“In the future, technology will improve and costs will keep falling,” Li said. “But understanding content will always be the most important thing, and that’s what we are good at.”

Fox signs four OTT deals in APAC

Fox International Channels (FIC) is all set to leverage over-the-top video market in Asia Pacific. FIC inks OTT deals with four players namely Avex in Japan, Tencent and its OTT partners in China, Astro in Malaysia and Cignal in the Philippines.

A slate of channels and content from FIC including Fox, Fox Sports and National Geographic will be available on SVOD, streaming and catch-up services from Avex, Tencent, Astro and Cignal.

“We are excited to be partnering with Avex, Tencent, Astro and Cignal. 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,” said Zubin Gandevia, President of Fox International Channels Asia Pacific and Middle East.

“This deal enables us to reach out to new fans through over the top.  We are delighted to further strengthen our relationship with FIC,” said CK Lee, Vice President, Sports Business at Astro.