China's leading companies--TV producer DMG, commercial broadcaster Hunan TV and e-commerce giant Alibaba--forged a home entertainment deal aiming to launch a platform combining phone, Internet and broadcast TV services.
Leading the endeavor is DMG, who will act as the system's entertainment content provider and operator.
Meanwhile, Hunan TV will offer access to its 70-million provincial and government-backed broadcasting network. The firm, which earlier linked with Lionsgate to finance a roster of Hollywood titles, will also provide content.
Alibaba's Tmall, on the other hand, will also help in supplying entertainment content apart from integrating its e-commerce backbone.
The deal will be initially launched in Hunan Province and will be gradually expanded to cover the nation, which has around 400 million TV homes.
The involved companies expect to get revenues from subscriptions, apps, gaming, education and e-commerce.
The entertainment platform will have three modules: live + timeshift (featuring on-demand video, voice control, pause, and lookback functionalities), categorized entrances, and recommendations.
"The intelligent home entertainment platform combines OTT and digital video through Alibaba's YunOS to give consumers unparalleled flexibility and content choice," DMG remarked.
Its content will cover Tmall shopping services, education and game offerings, Chinese and foreign films, and live TV channels.
"Unlike other services out there, this home entertainment platform will change the landscape of the entire industry in China. For the first time, consumers will have an amazing level of choice and options for services--from entertainment to education and everything in between," DMG's CEO Dan Mintz said.
DMG is currently serving as a link between U.S. and Chinese movie industries, involving in film titles like "Transcendence," "Looper," and the upcoming remake, "Point Break."
The Shenzhen-listed firm made a maiden announcement of the deal on June 30.