VimpelCom intends to develop the direction of online television and digital cinema, for which it acquired the domain beepopcorn.ru, as reported by Kommerstant. According to anonymous sources of the publication, the telecommunications operator will implement the service using SPB TV solutions (it will be a ready-made development, but adapted to the client’s needs).
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Market participants believe that VimpelCom could even buy some assets from a potential partner. Proof of this, for example, is the fact that the publisher of one of the SPB TV applications, “SPB TV Russia”, is already listed as VimpelCom in the App Store and Google Play.
As Kommersant clarifies, the operator has already worked with SPB TV, which developed online video services for Beeline in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. SPB TV is also known for developing mobile applications for watching television on smartphones, streaming software and content distribution of Chinese television channels China Media Group and Xinhua.
Initially, SPB TV was a division of SPB Software, which was later, without SPB TV, acquired by Yandex. The parent company SPB TV, based in Switzerland, is privately owned by a group of people whose names have not been revealed.
The general director of SPB TV AG is the owner of the Russian companies SPB TV Telecom, Pitersoftvare and Pitersoftvarehouse Kirill Filippov.
The decision to look for alternatives to the similar platform Beeline TV is due to technical limitations. This project initially worked thanks to foreign technological solutions (Microsoft, Kaltura, etc.). And VimpelCom, which spun off from Veon, is banking on domestic developments.
For a new online film and television service, VimpelCom has registered the domain beepopcorn.ru. Representatives of the operator commented on this step, as well as on the relationship with SPB TV: “Details of new projects and initiatives will be officially announced at the appropriate time.”
Some experts believe that beepopcorn.ru will be a testing platform: they will test the functionality of the solutions, and then implement them on Beeline TV. Other market players are confident that it will be an independent project: Beeline TV will remain in the top five of the pay TV market, and the new service will be developed in the “non-linear television viewing” market.
Author:
Ekaterina Alipova
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
