HOOQ, Asia’s video-on-demand service, forays in India

HOOQ, Asia’s video-on-demand service, has announced that it will kick off in India from June for just 199 Rupees a month.

HOOQ, a start-up joint venture between Singtel, Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros., empowers customers to enjoy unlimited online streaming access and an offline viewing option to top Hollywood and Indian movie and television content, via any device including computers, smartphones, tablets and Android set-top boxes.

Extensive Hollywood and local Indian content – over 15,000 titles

HOOQ brings to India the biggest Hollywood catalogue where customers can look forward to more than 5,000 Hollywood movies and television series and TV shows. This includes titles from Sony, Warner Bros., Disney, Dreamworks, and Miramax such as Harry Potter, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Pulp Fiction, and TV series such as Nikita, The Shield, Friends, Lost and Grey’s Anatomy.

In addition to top Hollywood favourites, HOOQ offers customers an extensive range of over 10,000 Indian film and TV favourites. To deliver this, HOOQ has partnered with the country’s top studios, including YRF, UTV Disney, Rajshri, Reliance, Shemaroo, Sri Balaji, AP International, Whacked Out Media and over 50 other studios. Customers can watch local high-grossing films such as Chennai Express , Vishwaroopam, as well as classic films including Ek Duje Ke Liya and Andaz Apna Apna.

‘We are very excited to bring to Indian consumers the ultimate ad-free video-on-demand service at an amazingly low price. HOOQ will offer India the largest and best catalogue of Hollywood and Indian content of any service available today,’ said HOOQ Chief Executive Officer, Peter Bithos. ‘Our ambition is to always bring the best experience with no compromises. We’ve built our service knowing the constraints and infrastructure issues faced by customers every day. We have designed our service specifically for the challenges of India and other countries like it. HOOQ offers features to ensure you enjoy an uninterrupted viewing experience; including a custom setting for your quality preference, a bandwidth indicator to assess your internet connectivity and adaptive streaming to maximise available bandwidth,’ he added.

HOOQ enhances digital lifestyles

‘The growing interconnectivity and rapid adoption of smart devices present a great opportunity to enhance the way people live, work and play in Asia. With HOOQ, we want to revolutionize entertainment for our customers.’ said Mr. Samba Natarajan, Singtel CEO, Group Digital Life. ‘Our unique telco assets and our partnership with Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros. will position HOOQ to become the largest over-the-top video service in the region.’

George Chien, Executive Vice President, Networks at Sony Pictures Television, said: ‘We share the excitement of offering entertainment fans across Asia access to high quality video services directly to their mobile devices. HOOQ provides a unique combination of Hollywood and local favorites while providing a high-quality viewing experience they’ve come to expect in today’s digital world.’

Anuraj Goonetilleke, Vice President Corporate Business Development and Strategy at Warner Bros. said: 'We’re very excited about the launch of our joint video-on-demand business across Asia, starting with the Philippines, Thailand and now in India. Providing world-class content to Asia’s entertainment fans will meet a voracious appetite for new and classic videos and TV episodes on-demand.’

The service will also be accessible to all customers in India through its website www.hooq.tv. Customers can watch videos of their choice and pay for the subscription through multiple e-payment options such as credit card, debit card, cash card, internet banking and mobile wallet.