German telecommunications provider 1&1 has partnered with Swiss TV-as-a-Service provider Zattoo and streaming platform Rakuten TV to launch its own video-on-demand (VOD) service 1&1 Cinema.
The service, which is available to 1&1 broadband customers from now on, covers both free content as well as premium content for rent or buy. Offered together with the 1&1 IPTV service, 1&1 Cinema contains more than 6,000 titles, from recent blockbusters to classic movies.
To enable the service, Zattoo has integrated Rakuten TV’s TVOD (Transactional Video-on-Demand) into the Zattoo-developed white label TV platform of 1&1. The partnership with Rakuten TV enables Zattoo to further expand its TV-as-a-Service offering for B2B customers as a “one-stop shop” including third-party apps for premium video content.
“The successful integration of Rakuten TV into our white-label TV platform shows once more that Zattoo, as an enabler, can take the TV subscriber experience at large TV providers like 1&1 in Germany to the next level,” said Jörg Meyer, Chief Commercial Officer at Zattoo.
Jorge del Puerto, Europe Head of Distribution and Partnerships at Rakuten TV, added: “Our strategy is to expand our reach in Europe to make entertainment accessible to our users also via their preferred operators. This partnership with 1&1 represents a new step in our company strategy of collaborating with the best telecom companies across Europe. Thanks to Zattoo, we are thrilled to extend the Rakuten TV TVOD service and more services like AVOD or FAST Channels to other telecom companies using their white label platform.”
