Internet TV platform Magine TV wants to expand its recently launched German service by offering more pay-TV packages, but does not intend to provide a video-on-demand (VOD) service.
“We wouldn’t do anything that would harm our partners,” Friederike Behrends, head of Magine TV Germany, said at the Audiovisual Media Days conference in Munich on April 29, 2014. Magine TV would, thus, not compete with maxdome, for example. The VOD service is operated by German commercial TV group ProSiebenSat.1 whose linear TV channels Magine TV is offering as live-streams on its platform.
The foundation of Magine TV would be linear TV channels complemented by time-shifting and catch-up features, Behrends said, adding that these features would be made available at more TV channels soon. The rewinding function would also be one of the features that differentiate Magine TV from its competitor Zattoo in Germany.
Behrends explained that Magine TV was composed as a freemium service providing both free and premium content. Following the Kids TV package further thematic pay-TV bouquets will be introduced gradually, she said without revealing further details.
According to Behrends, Magine TV’s launch in Germany on April 24, 2014, was an “overwhelming success” which led to the break-down of its servers. This would show the strong interest in such a service streaming linear TV channels onto any device of consumers’ choice.
At the Audiovisual Media Days 2014 which take place on April 29 and 30 in Munich industry players discuss the changes, convergence and prospects of the TV, internet and mobile markets.
