Over-the-top platforms are becoming more popular among Brazilian consumers. Last September, Netflix, the subscription service for delivering movies through the Internet, launched operations in 43 Latin American countries. Brazil’s Globosat also unveiled its video over Internet offer called Muu, through Net Serviços. Today, DirecTV’s Latin America subsidiary Sky Brazil launched its on-demand video service.
Named Sky Online, it will initially be limited to personal computers and just for Sky’s pay-TV subscribers. The company said within the next year it will expand the offer to tablets, smartphones and non-subscribers. Under the service, customers can download or stream rented or purchased video content.
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Although Sky Brazil President Luiz Eduardo Baptista da Rocha says Sky Online is different from its competitors, the comparison with Netflix is inevitable. Both are OTT offerings that provide on-demand video content.
“We offer a product focused on Brazilian needs, regarding broadband conditions, that we know there are still infrastructure problems. In addition, Netflix offers old content,” explained Rocha.
Indeed, when unveiling video content for both download and streaming, Rocha said Sky aims to serve those with a variety of broadband speeds. The company recommends a connection speed of at least 2 megabits per second, but said the service would also work at speeds as slow as 1 Mbps.
As for content, Rocha said that half of Sky Online videos are different for its pay-TV programming. However, RCR Wireless News had the chance to check out Sky Online and notes films and series offered are not as new as Rocha indicated.
Sky Brazil’ project figures to be the first among DirecTV Group’s subsidiaries. Rocha noted that the Brazilian OTT architecture could be deployed by others subsidiaries, and explained that the group has made the decision to divide responsibilities of launching new projects.
“We know the broadband difficulties are greater in emerging countries, so we had to design an architecture considering bad conditions. Netflix did not know this, and faced difficulties [when deploying in the country],” Rocha said.
