(25 April 2007 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) and Daum Communications (Daum) have signed the first ever free video-on-demand (VoD) licensing deal with a Hollywood studio in Korea.

Under the deal, SPTI will license a selection of titles from its extensive library to South Korean internet portal Daum annually to stream via its portal, www.daum.net. South Korean consumers will be able to watch these movies on-demand for free as the movies will be ad-supported. The service will also be geo-filtered to ensure that the movies are only viewable to consumers in South Korea.

SPTI is the first Hollywood studio to sign a free VoD deal in Korea and the first to partner with Daum. The closing of this deal introduces a new business model for video-on-demand providers across Asia.

SPTI senior VP, distribution, Asia Ross Pollack said, “SPTI is very proud to be the first to collaborate with Daum to introduce the free video-on-demand model to Asia. We feel such a model represents a win/win proposition not just for the content licensee and licensor, but, more importantly, for advertisers and consumers as well. Consumers will be able to access free, quality content and advertisers will be able to reach their target audience.

“SPTI prides itself on being at the forefront of digital distribution and this is an example of how aggressively we are pursuing new forms of digital distribution here in Asia,” Mr. Pollack continued.

SPTI’s executive director, licensing, Asia Soojin Chung said, “Korea has one of the highest broadband penetration rates in the world and is the ideal market to introduce this free video-on-demand service. Moreover, Daum is the ideal partner for this deal as they are one of the top internet portals in Korea and are already offering streaming content through their portal.”