Magine TV will terminate its TV streaming service in Germany on February 28, 2019.
The customers will be offered the opportunity to transfer to competitor Zattoo, which will take over the B2C business. Magine will now focus on its worldwide B2B activities. The spectrum of MaginePro, the provider of video streaming platforms and video streaming solutions for websites and content providers, ranges from technical platforms to fully managed end-to-end OTT services for linear live TV streaming and video-on-demand content.
“Magine began as a provider of web TV for consumers, but has been pursuing a strategy of being primarily a business-to-business provider for some time,” said Kamal Bherwani, chairman of Magine. “Accordingly, we have decided to no longer focus on multiple business models, but on our B2B strategy. As a result, we are selling our B2C business to our renowned competitor and now partner Zattoo. We would like to thank all Magine TV users for their loyalty. With Zattoo, our users are in good hands and can continue streaming high-quality TV with a variety of TV channels.”
Zattoo offers a welcome package to the around 150,000 active Magine TV users: They receive a personalised code by e-mail, which they can use to test the Zattoo Premium bouquet free of charge for two months. Customers who have subscribed to Magine TV for a whole year will receive compensation for not being provided with the service from March 2019 onwards.
Nick Brambring, CEO of Zattoo International, said: “We regret that we are losing Magine as a partner in the development of a market for modern TV distribution in Germany. In return, we are gaining more users and can therefore invest even more in our product.” Magine TV’s customer service will remain available until February 28, 2019.
Magine TV was founded in Sweden in March 2013 and launched in Germany in April 2014. The offer included live streams from public and commercial free-to-air TV channels as well as pay-TV channels in SD and HD resolution.
Broadband TV views: The withdrawal of Magine TV is not surprising given the strong competitive environment and the dominant position of market leader Zattoo. In February 2015, Magine TV already discontinued its TV streaming service in Spain, followed by the same step in its home country Sweden in May 2017. Since then there has been speculation about the withdrawal from Germany, driven by frequent changes in strategy and management. Germany has been the last country in which Magine TV still operated a TV streaming service for end-consumers. Industry observers believe that further market consolidation is likely.
