Brief

IPTV-based movie on-Demand channel

ANYTIME, a Video-on-Demand (VoD) channel, has signed a five-year distribution agreement with broadband provider, India Online Broadband Limited (IOL). Four million homes in Mumbai and Delhi will have access to the ANYTIME VoD movie channel and interactive games channels by March 2007.

The ANYTIME VoD movie channel will be the exclusive provider of Hollywood VoD programming on the MTNL-IOL and BSNL-IOL IPTV platforms, supported by Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) respectively.

The channel is expected to go live in December this year, making a wide range of Hollywood blockbusters—both new releases and library titles—and interactive games, available on-Demand.

ANYTIME CEO Craig Zimbulis said, “On-Demand delivery of video content is set to boom in India, this is a country that clearly has a huge appetite for next generation services.”

IOL has a fully integrated backbone network delivering broadband Internet access in India. The ANYTIME channel will run over the company’s own fibre metro Ethernet network as well as the fixed-line ADSL networks of BSNL and MTNL.

Director of IOL, A S Oberai said, “We’re excited to have ANYTIME on board. Having the best of Hollywood content and making it available on-Demand is a winning combination for us and the realisation of our subscriber growth plans. ANYTIME’s games channels also improve the breadth of our IPTV offering and we look forward to develop our interactive content strategy.”