New players line up on Romania's video-on-demand market. How to (legally) watch movies online
With the 24-hour television no longer as popular as several years ago and the constant rise of the Internet, along with the launch of TV sets which can easily play online content, watching movies online has become the norm for many Romanians. The online piracy rate in Romania, which places the country on the International Intellectual Property Alliance's watch list for 2011, can be, in case of movie piracy, partially attributed to the lack of specialized websites which would legally offer movies on demand, for a fee. The high piracy is also the reason why many of the international websites which offer video-on-demand (such as Netflix.com) restrict the access of users from Romania. But there is a silver lining and it comes from Romanian investors.
By Corina Saceanu
No longer the case for users in Romania to complain for lack of legal ways to watch movies (other than in cinema halls), as several companies have seen the empty niche and invested in Video-on-Demand technologies. They are either media companies offering some of their old content online while also establishing contracts with movie production companies to distribute their content, or telecom companies that offer video on demand on the users' TV sets.
Let's look at the existing and the more recent such projects in Romania.
Voyo.ro – the most recent addition
American media company CME, which owns ProTv TV station in Romania (among others), has recently launched www.voyo.ro, a website which offers movies and TV shows on demand. Voyo is CME's regional video-on-demand brand and the launch in Romania was part of the regional expansion of this brand.
Viewers can also pay to see episodes of their favorite shows and TV series ahead of broadcast transmission, or choose from a selection of blockbuster movies. Current Voyo.ro films include: The King’s Speech, Slumdog Millionaire, The Hurt Locker and Milk.
Voyo was first launched at the beginning of this year in the Czech Republic and then in Croatia in July. CME plans to roll out Voyo across all of its regions before the end of the year.
Prices: Movies on Voyo.to can be bought for prices ranging from EUR 0.5 to EUR 1.5 and payment can be done via text message or via debit/credit card. A user account must be created. The website offers free video content as well, such as ProTV informative shows.
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HBO Go
HBO launched in June this year its HBO Go platform in Romania, available for the time being only to clients of iNES Group’s internet services, which offers its IPTV commercial service in Romania. The new service will be offered to broadband internet users who are subscribers of HBO’s channels – the Maxpack.
HBO Go is a streaming service which adapts the quality of the video to the internet connection speed. The service allows users to watch the newest HBO films and a selection of original HBO productions, some even before they are launched on the regular HBO channels.
Telecom company Romtelecom, majority owned by Greek OTE, launched DolceTV.ro earlier this year, offering free and paid content- movies, TV shows, recorded football matches. Some of its content – such as recorded news shows from various televisions in Romania- are for free. Movies can be viewed for prices up to EUR 2.5.
Besides this online video-on-demand option, Romtelecom also offers the Dolce Interactiv package, an IPTV solution to its subscribers. Certain programs and shows in the last seven days can be re-viewed.
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Apropo Media, a company which belongs to the Mediafax group in Romania, owned by Romanian investor Adrian Sarbu, launched Muvix.ro in 2009, making it one of the pioneers of this segment. The price of movies can go up to EUR 2.5 for a movie that can be viewed during 24 hours after payment.
The Direct One group of companies launched www.mediadirect.ro in 2009, aiming to offer paid and free content to users who want to watch movies online. At the time, the main supplier of content was Mediapro Distribution, part of the CME group. MediaDirect.ro offers movies for the price of up to EUR 2.85, as well as free cartoons.
Check this recent report on piracy in Romania.
corina@romania-insider.com
Do you think we should add something to this article? Or want to suggest another topic we should write about? Get in touch with us: corina@romania-insider.com.
