Philips Net TV, the connected TV platform of the Dutch consumer electronics manufacturer, is to offer direct access to on-demand movies.
The company has concluded agreements with a number of providers in selected countries including Videoland (The Netherlands, Belgium), Video Futur (France, Belgium) and Film2Home (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland).
Movies will be available in both SD and HD formats on a transactional basis, with payments possible with credit cards, PayPal and prepaid cards.
Philips is now accelerating its connected TV offer with recently announced agreements with RTL Nederland for its catch-up service RTL Gemist (see Broadband TV News passim), Arte in France and the ARD mediathek in Germany. Also, a new agreement is in place with Eredivisie Live, the Dutch company that offers live Dutch football.
With these developments, Philips is now emerging as the first serious OTT (over-the-top) provider of premium content in Europe. In the US, OTT is now also becoming more mainstream with Wal-Mart buying up the OTT provide Vudu.
