Hotstar and CBS Corporation announce agreement for Showtime ® content and brand in India
Mumbai and Los Angeles, 12 July 2017: Hotstar, India’s largest premium streaming platform, and CBS Corporation today announced an SVOD content licensing and trademark agreement for SHOWTIME in India. The agreement will introduce the SHOWTIME brand to India for the first time and bring a roster of Emmy® and Golden Globe® winning programming from SHOWTIME to the territory.
The agreement will provide Hotstar Premium subscribers in India access to future SHOWTIME series such as the new comedy SMILF, the new limited series, ESCAPE AT DANNEMORA, starring Oscar® winners Benicio Del Toro and Patricia Arquette and Golden Globe nominee Paul Dano, and the new TWIN PEAKS. Also available to Hotstar Premium subscribers are hundreds of hours of critically-acclaimed series including THE AFFAIR, BILLIONS, RAY DONOVAN and the recently premiered, I’M DYING UP HERE.
Ajit Mohan, CEO, Hotstar said, “Over the last year, we have established Hotstar Premium as the most exciting destination for American TV shows and movies in India on demand. We have been continuously raising the bar on what is already the best streaming service for an Indian audience interested in international stories. The deal with CBS is in line with our strategy of bringing the best of new shows and movies from around the world to our Premium subscribers. Today, SHOWTIME joins an exciting slate on Hotstar. It is clear that there is no equivalent service like this in India, or, frankly, anywhere in the world. We are clear that we are building Hotstar Premium as the most compelling subscription service that will showcase the best story tellers from around the world.”
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Hotstar to bring critically-acclaimed programming from SHOWTIME to Indian audiences,” said Armando Nuñez, President and CEO, CBS Studios International. “Thanks to this agreement and other partnerships with top platforms around the world, the footprint of the SHOWTIME brand and programming continues to expand in the global marketplace.”
For CBS Corporation, similar agreements for SHOWTIME have been announced with FOX Networks Group in Asia, Canal+ Group in France, along with Sky UK, Germany and Italy, Bell Canada, Stan Australia, Movistar Spain and other output partners around the world.
Setting its sights on shaping the connected TV experience in India, Hotstar appropriated the top spot on iTunes as Apple TV’s App of the Year for India in 2016. The recognition came on the back of a breakthrough year in which Hotstar continued to lead and disrupt the Indian market place. The service has more than 250 million downloads to date, and was the first local service to cross 100 million downloads on the Google Play Store. Globally, only one other video streaming app has hit the same milestone.
Hotstar Premium now becomes the one of the few services in the world with exclusive content partnerships with the best global studios like Disney, Fox, HBO, and, now, SHOWTIME.
About Hotstar: Hotstar is India’s largest premium streaming platform with close to 100,000 hours of drama and movies in 8 languages, and coverage of every major global sporting event. Launched in early 2015, it has been downloaded by more than 250 million users and has attracted followers on the back of a highly evolved video streaming technology and high attention to quality of experience across devices and platforms. The Hotstar Premium service showcases the best stories from around the world and is available at a monthly subscription fee of Rs. 199.
About CBS Studios International
CBS Studios International is the leading supplier of programming to the international television marketplace, licensing to more than 200 markets in more than 60 languages across multiple media platforms. The division distributes content from CBS Television Studios, CBS Television Distribution, SHOWTIME Networks, CBS News, CBS Films and a library of more than 70,000 hours of programming. The Studio participates in a number of international channel ventures and also exports a diverse lineup of formats for local production. CBS Studios International has 13 offices around the world, including its base in Los Angeles and EMEA headquarters in Amsterdam. CBS Studios International is a division of CBS Corporation.
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