This article originally appearedin Rethink's Faultline
Alibaba, DMG and Hunan TV have teamed up to offer what the companies are calling the first “digital home entertainment” platform in China.
The bundle will offer broadband service, internet-delivered TV and voice services, under Alibaba’s T-Mall brand and delivered to consumers via the T-Mall set-top box.
The web-based service will be initially offered to satco Hunan TV’s 6 million pay TV subscribers. Alibaba plans to roll out the service across China in future months.
DMG, the Beijing-based film and television studio, will supply some of the content for the service.
“With this announcement, DMG begins the transition into a technology entertainment company,” DMG said this week, adding that the internet-entertainment bundle is “an ideal distribution platform for content based off our IP, along with our slate of Chinese-language TV series.”
Alibaba’s own content chops are impressive, and the online retailer is becoming one of the major players in film and TV entertainment in China.
It’s likely that TBO, the premium subscription OTT service that Alibaba announced earlier this year, will be included in the service. TBO plans to develop original series and license popular Hollywood and Chinese content from Wasu Media, in which Alibaba founder Jack Ma has personally invested.
Alibaba also has its own film unit, Alibaba Pictures, which recently raised $1.6 billion. It is co-financing the upcoming film “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” with Paramount Pictures.
Alibiba has an 8.8% stake in the film and television production company Enlight; it has an 18.5% stake in the popular online video platform Youku Tudou; and finally, Ma holds a minority stake in Huayi Brothers Media, one of the largest film production companies in China.