LeTV aims to take HK pay-TV by storm

Updated: 2015-09-25 09:34

By Oswald Chan in Hong Kong(HK Edition)

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Mainland Internet company LeTV rolled out its business plans for Hong Kong on Thursday, aiming to be the dominant player in the city's pay-television industry in the next two years.

LeTV will launch a member subscription plan to attract local customers. By paying a deposit of HK$399, Hong Kong viewers can enjoy all of LeTV's programs for six months. This deposit also covers the LeTV Box 4K standard version, which is developed by LeTV to enable local viewers to receive its entertainment contents.

If customers are not happy with the programs after a six-month trial, they can have their deposit refunded in full. By subscribing to the service, customers can automatically enjoy another six months' service for free, meaning they can subscribe to the first-year LeTV service for only HK$399.

Besides, through the LeTV online channel, LeTV Box 4K can be accessible at more than 1,300 retail outlets in Hong Kong.

"We envisage LeTV Box 4K becoming the dominant player in the pay-television industry, leading to other product and content innovations," Le Holdings (Beijing) Vice-President Mok Chui-tin said on Thursday.

LeTV aims to take HK pay-TV by storm

LeTV will localize all entertainment programs to suit local tastes, and the contents will be subtitled in traditional Chinese and dubbed in the Cantonese dialect.

In addition, LeTV will produce its own drama entertainment contents - the first time that drama series will be broadcast by 4K Internet technology in Hong Kong.

"We have invested HK$20 million to produce our own drama series. All the actors, screen writers and other production staff are Hong Kong people," Mok said.

"In future, we hope to produce two to four proprietary drama series each year that can be broadcast on the LeTV platform."

Currently, LeTV has more than 1,000 hours of 4K entertainment contents that can be broadcast, including the latest American, Korean and mainland drama series, updated movies from the six major film studios in Europe and the US, as well as music concerts in live streaming broadcast format.

A sports game show is the other major content on the LeTV platform. LeTV Sports said on Tuesday it has acquired exclusive rights to broadcast the English Premier League soccer games in Hong Kong from 2016 to 2019. It's the first time that exclusive broadcasting rights for the Premier League have been granted to an Internet company.

LeTV has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Hong Kong Broadband Network. The two sides will cooperate in promoting the sales of the online media contents and the subscription fee packages of entertainment and sport programs, including Premier League game shows, to be broadcast on the LeTV platform.

oswald@chinadailyhk.com

 LeTV aims to take HK pay-TV by storm

A model tests a new product - LeTV smart glasses - at a press conference at Crowne Plaza Hong Kong Kowloon East on Thursday. The LeTV glasses has the distinct function of playing 3D movies and videos from mobile phones and smart TV. Parker Zheng / China Daily

(HK Edition 09/25/2015 page9)