Telefónica is developing an OTT platform, which is being tested in 600 users and will be launched in 2012 in Brazil, at the beginning with non-lineal content and DTT. The service will be offered at a monthly subscription fee and under a transactional model.
According to what Teletime has disclosed, Henrique Moraes, Telefónica Fixed Marketing Director and project leader, stated that the new proposal will not necessarily need a hybrid STB, since the company is also working “on the development of the platform for connected TV set applications”. Moraes pointed out that the non-lineal content providers have already got involved in the project, though he did not disclose their names. Eventually, lineal channels will be included.
The platform stems from the development carried out by the Brazilian firm LabOne, which has recently partnered Microsoft. Therefore, the American company has become Telefónica’s main IP platform provider. The Brazilian media informed that Telefónica is planning to offer this new service to not only its broadband subscribers. In Argentina, for example, the Spanish company offers its VOD-through-streaming service ‘On Video’ only to Speedy clients. In Brazil, ‘On Video’ was launched commercially in October 2010, but at present, the product is promoted in its web page.
