NEW YORK—Malaysian content and entertainment company Astro has selected the Kaltura TV Platform to power sooka, its new streaming service aimed at millennials.
The Kaltura TV Platform, which sooka took live in June on Amazon Web Services (AWS), won out in a competitive selection process. The technology enables Astro to deliver linear channels, live events and on-demand programming via the web and on iOS an Android mobile device.
The multiple worldwide reference cloud TV deployments of Kaltura as well as the platform’s flexibility motivated Astro to select the company for the rollout. Astro is currently using Kaltura’s Google In-App Billing and Apple In-App Purchase functionality and will soon deploy Direct Carrier Billing, the company said.
“The flexibility of Kaltura’s TV Platform allows us to quickly adapt to viewer preferences and engagement models, and it supports our business model. Kaltura was able to smoothly integrate the solution into our existing ecosystem and very rapidly meet our tight timeline,” said Euan Smith, CEO of Pay-TV and Group COO at Astro, it said.
Kaltura delivered its platform solution to sooka in under six months, making it possible for the new service to offer live streams of the UEFA EURO 2020 football (soccer) championship, which it credits with propelling sooka to the No. 1 entertainment app on Google Play within two weeks of launch.
The new service offers viewers a freemium package with a selection of ad-based content that can be expanded into broader content bundles based on subscription plans. It offers live sports, such as Premier League, Euro 2020, the Summer Olympics, BWF badminton, NBA action and Formula 1 racing as well as 4,000 hours of Malaysia’s favorite Malay and Asian dramas, movies and variety shows. Original content and exclusives are planned, it said.
“Pay-TV providers everywhere are recognizing the advantages of cloud TV as the optimal engine for offering Over-The-Top (OTT) services as part of a super-aggregation strategy, and the best way to reach audiences wherever they are,” said Nuno Sanches, general manager, of media and telecom at Kaltura. “We are proud to be entrusted by Astro for the launch of sooka, and we look forward to continuing to support Astro as it engages more and more subscribers with this exciting new cloud TV service.”
More information is available on the company’s website.
