I’m so pumped for this. Last year, while helping out some of the PLDT Telpad guys for a project, they mentioned that they would be bringing in some sort of “Netflix-like” service. For those unfamiliar, Netflix is an on-demand online video streaming service in the US. It used to be that videos were delivered via physical discs to your home address but since the Internet has been blowing our minds with better speeds as the years pass, bandwidth became the main delivery method.
I was excited!
Fast forward to 2013 and I get invited to lunch with Sherwin dela Cruz, a fellow geek I had met during the Samsung-Tradeport partnership for the Blupass movie delivery service. Finally, we have our very own on-demand movie streaming service in the Philippines and for PHP 60.00 per movie, this is very competitive vs piracy.
Here are the details:
The streaming service is at ClickPlay.PH. They charge PHP 60.00 for movies. Some titles will be pegged at a higher cost.
Right now they have about 70++ titles which will be bumped up to 200++ in the following months. Regarding movies and series availability, this has to do more with the big TV networks abroad making the content available locally. I give my hats off to the folks at ClickPlay for being able to continuously negotiate for more and more titles, making them available at even cheaper rates compared to iTunes. This is no easy feat.
As of now, payment options include Paypal and credit card. More easy-access options available soon. They just launched.
For now you will be able to access the HTML5 site and stream. You will need Microsoft Silverlight (this is a DRM issue with the networks). The apps for mobile are coming. Once you rent a title, you will need to watch it within 30 days. From the moment you start watching, you can play it an unlimited number of times for 48 hours.
There is a subscription model coming soon. In the meantime, if you are a PLDT Fibr subscriber, you can avail of the packages for free! Here they are:
8mbps -3 movies per month
20mbps -4 movies per month
50mbps -10 movies per month
100mbps -20 movies per month
All existing customers come pre-registered (using their account# and telephone # as the username and password). This is valid till March 31, 2013.