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Viacom to offer worldwide apps with TV content

Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Channel, Spike & BET will soon offer "anytime" content.

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Viacom will offer a suite of worldwide apps for its channels, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Channel, Spike and BET that allow viewers to watch “anytime” content.

From Q4 2015, Viacom Play Plex will offer smartphone and tablet users content from all of their international TV brands.

There will be a separate mobile Play app for each of Viacom’s major international TV channel offering video-on-demand (VOD) access to a range of current and library content, as well as a live, local linear stream of the relevant channel, and other content including games for Nick Play.

Viacom indicates it is currently collaborating with Foxtel for its upcoming launch, for use by authenticated customers.

Delegates at today’s ASTRA Conference will be given a ‘first look’ at Viacom Play Plex.

Viacom is exploring a number of different distribution options for Viacom Play Plex, with the suite of apps being offered on both a collective and standalone basis to existing pay TV partners in every territory to integrate into their TV Everywhere services where available. A number of pay TV providers have already signed deals with Viacom to offer subscribers authenticated access to the Nick app, including NOS in Portugal, while Viacom is collaborating with a number of other providers on upcoming launches including Foxtel in Australia and OSN in the Middle East and North Africa region. The Nick app, which has been rolled out in five international markets since 2013, is being updated and rebranded as Nick Play internationally to become part of Viacom Play Plex.

Bob Bakish, President and CEO, Viacom International Media Networks, commented: “Viacom Play Plex offers us maximum flexibility in distributing our content as the way viewers consume their favorite TV shows continues to evolve. These apps are designed to complement our linear pay TV channels and to allow our existing distribution partners to deepen and improve the entertainment experience they offer their subscribers. But, Viacom Play Plex also opens up new distribution opportunities for us, particularly in the fast-growing mobile TV sector, and, ultimately, positions us to succeed in a world of more personalized entertainment services and greater consumer choice.”

Each branded Play app will be localized for each country in which it is made available, both in terms of language and available content, giving users more ways to access Viacom’s global hits such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Catfish and Lip Sync Battle, as well as local productions.

Mobile TV viewers everywhere will enjoy an intuitive, video-focused user interface and enhanced video player, which reduces loading and buffering times, as well as an algorithmic menu that adapts to their tastes. Apps will include social and sharing components, and will be available in both iOS and Android to download from the Apple App store and Google Play store respectively.

Bakish added: “Viacom Play Plex allows viewers across the globe to watch the TV shows they love from their favorite Viacom brands anytime and anywhere. We believe no other international entertainment company is offering this type of innovation at this scale, serving every major demographic in every major TV market.”

3 Responses

  1. So a Viacom/foxtel partnership which doesn’t factor in that fetch tv customers have access to mtv and nickelodeon channels.
    So they are creating only apple and android apps. How about having some forward thinking and creating a universal windows 10 app that would work on windows 10 on pcs which is already available and would also work on windows 10 mobile which is coming in a few months.
    Agree with Perplexed that making content localized lacks vision. These media companies keep wanting to sell content per region when the internet is worldwide.

  2. One app for this, one app for that and another and another. “localized for each country…available content”. Dare I say “a lack of vision” or “the big picture”? One app and one monthly fee to watch everything on any device is still a long way off.

    1. If “never” is a long way off then, yes, you are correct. Just like you can’t go to a single online store and buy bread from Woolies, milk from Coles, and potatoes from IGA.

      It’s a nice idea but it would require a global monopoly distributor which, if it could ever happen, would add another layer of expense to the model.

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