MTN in talks to stream content: report
MTN Group is in discussions with a company based in Asia to provide a streaming service on its network, Bloomberg reported.
Citing two people with knowledge of the talks, Bloomberg said that a deal with the content provider could be concluded before the end of the year and would enable MTN to offer access to movies and television content.
“The two parties have yet to decide a commercial model for the partnership,” Bloomberg said.
Earlier this week, MTN launched commercial proof of concept fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) products at Monaghan Farm – a service which the company says is capable of speeds of up to 100Mbps.
“While we don’t comment on market speculation, MTN continues to pursue suitable opportunities to expand product offerings outside of traditional voice and to increase its
presence in the digital space,” MTN told Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, Netflix, the US based provider of on-demand Internet streaming media, poured cold water over suggestions that it will enter the South African market any time soon.
“We have no plans yet to enter South Africa,” said Jonathan Friedland, chief communications officer of Netflix.
In January, Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko told Bloomberg that he held talks with a host of large media companies including Comcast, Bertelsmann, Naspers, and Netflix, to carry content on the telco’s fixed-line networks.
And in February, Telkom extended an invitation to industry to bid for the provisioning of Video on Demand (VoD) services.
While rumours abound that Vodafone Group, parent company of SA carrier Vodacom, is in talks with Netflix to offer subscribers access to streaming movies and television shows, Vodacom remained coy over its content plans.
“We are looking at content deals, but I can’t comment on any specific company,” Vodacom spokesman, Richard Boorman said.
Loading ...
