In a move that it says strengthens its commitment to TV and also fend off competition from SVOD services, Telefónica’s Movistar is to launch an OTT service with a basic offer of original content, sports and drama for €8 per month.
The launch came as Telefónica Spain president Emilio Gayo announced the strategy that he said the company would employ in the coming quarters to gain ‘relevance’ in the lives of customers with new services that capture growth opportunities in the Spanish market.
“We have spent time listening to the client, we have identified some of their needs and now propose proposals to try to meet them,” he said. “We cannot settle for what has been done and we have to continue building the company we want to be and that our clients demand.”
Part of this initiative is built around Movistar's TV bouquet. To date, 80% of Telefónica broadband access Movistar customers and the company says that this has changed the way in which people watch TV. Gayo said that Telefónica would continue to use Movistar to popularise pay-TV among Spaniards until it brought the service closer to the levels of the countries around Spain.
“We are in a position to offer the most complete offer, with the original production universe of Movistar in current programme, in series - where we will keep the bet with the premiere of 13 series this year - and cinema; with an incomparable offer in sport; with alliances with the major international producers, and with access to differential functionalities,” Gayo noted. “We want all of our convergent customers to join the Movistar television offer and, in addition, go a step further. We want to universalise our pay-TV with the launch in June of a new OTT offer open to non-Movistar customers.”
The new Movistar OTT TV offer will cost eight euros a month and will give access to Movistar+ original content of that are offered in the # 0 and #Vamos packages. It will include sporting events, Movistar Series and Movistar Seriesmanía. In all there will be a catalogue of 300 series and documentaries, 270 films and 60 programmes on-demand and third-party content.
