SingTel announces on-demand TV tie

SingTel, Southeast Asia’s largest mobile phone operator, has secured an exclusive tie-up with three top Hollywood studios – Disney-ABC, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros - to broadcast popular dramas on-demand on mio TV within a day of the shows’ premiere or broadcast in the US.

Mio TV will unveil its Season Pass service in September, making available seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, Ugly Betty and Prison Break.

Consumers are becoming increasingly demanding. They want the latest TV hits ahead of anyone else and mio TV is filling this gap with this offering. We see this as the next big wave of content consumption in Singapore, said Allen Lew, CEO of SingTel Singapore.

StarHub immediately responded by announcing it would offer its own video-on-demand (VOD) services in the near future.

Patrick Lim, StarHub’s head of cable TV services, said: StarHub will be launching VOD services, which will also carry popular TV series viewable at earlier time windows. But whatever the choices, we know that people want good value, convenience, good customer service, a full range of quality programing and reliable networks.

SingTel’s mio TV currently offers 50 channels and counts 45,000 subscribers.

StarHub, however, offers 150 channels and has a subscriber base of 508,000.