Media entertainment company UTV Entertainment has taken its
pan-regional presence once step further, launching mega-streaming portal
Sharkstream.com.
Sparked by a four-month Lion City test run via the SingaporeONE
broadband network and aided by the Economic Development Board (EDB) and
the National Computer Board of Singapore (NCB), Sharkstream is targeting
users in broadband-equipped Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Fortunately for UTV, content has been its mantra for the past 10 years,
with broadcasting operations in the ASEAN region that include a hub base
of up to 1,000 animators producing programming for clients which include
Disney, Discovery Channel and Nikelodeon.
Offering users 15 channels worth of "VCD quality" portal content, feeds
range from Channel V, Star TV Asian programming, US and international
news by Voice of America, Live-E for live music, Tamil programming with
Vijay TV and 50 audio channels of streaming music all set for initial
showcasing.
"We'll be ramping up to 20 (channels) when the broadcasters consolidate
their offerings and we can get in front of the consumer in an on-demand
fashion," said UTV group chairman Ronnie Screwala.
Brandishing an advertising budget of US$2 million spanning
Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong during '99, Mr Screwvala said the first
six months of viewing was being offered as free-to-air in a bid to
entice users.
"Our basic revenue model will be pay-per-month or pay-per-view, but we
need to get people to log on and have recall before we get that loyalty
going."
Targeting Sharkstream.com at the 70 per cent of Asian 'Net users below
the age of 30, Sharkstream director Sudhanshu Sarronwala said the site
was hedging its bets on a 250,000 subscriber base within the coming
year.
Mr Sarronwala said the portal would be leveraging off its ties with News
Corporation for the purpose of an advertising platform - since News
Corporation holds a 15 per cent stake in the UTV Group.
"They've got a strategy that could help us a lot and we'll be leaning on
them for promotions targeting viewers on the Star network," he said.
Despite the overriding slant on broadcast content, Mr Sarronwala noted
that advertisers would only have to invest a tenth of the equivalent
advertising costs on a cable channel.
"We have the localised content on offer and we understand the relevance
of budgets here better than anyone - we're not following a US or
European revenue model".
Keeping China "in the pipeline", Mr Sarronwala also predicted a
broadcast U-turn in the 'Net space. "Right now what exists is TV
programming on the Internet - but soon we'll be seeing a paradigm shift,
where a whole new form of shorter, interactive Internet-style
programming is the norm," said Mr Sarronwala.
