PPTV Licenses Korean TV Dramas
21st Century Business Herald, 12/27/11
Chen Feng, VP and editor-in-chief of Chinese P2P streaming video platform PPLive (PPTV), recently revealed that PPTV paid a large sum in November to acquire the Mainland China online broadcasting rights for 100% of all new TV drama programming over the coming three years from South Korean networks KBS, MBC and SBS. PPTV's purchase involves more than 12,000 individual episodes, or more than 13,500 hours, of content.
Chen also announced that PPTV will release a self-produced program which will feature interviews with South Korean celebrities and other aspects of the country's entertainment industry. In addition to advertising revenue carried by its exclusive broadcasts, PPTV also plans to re-license and distribute the rights for its Korean programming to other online video platforms.
Chen described the company's programming strategy for 2012 as "hit shows + broadcasting to multiple types of terminal."
An industry source has revealed that PPTV's recent purchase of the rights to Korean TV dramas exceeds all previous amounts the company has spent in acquiring rights for online video content and likely compares in scale to rival Tudou's (Nasdaq: TUDO) earlier USD eight digit deal for rights to variety programs from Taiwan.
Editor's Note: For more information on this topic, please see "PPTV Releases Korean TV Drama Channel," MD 11/22/11 and "Tudou Licenses 5 Taiwanese Variety Shows," MD 11/24/11 issues.
Keywords: legal Chen Feng content Internet strategy online video PPLive TV Drama broadcasting rights P2P
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