Lebara diversifies into migrant OTT TV

Lebara® diversifies into entertainment with launch of multi-ethnic content service Lebara Play™

LONDON — Lebara®, the universal brand for the world’s migrant community, is bridging the content gap and launching a new entertainment service for migrants. Lebara Play™ will be the only multi-ethnic entertainment service bringing together free and premium, fully licensed content in 13 languages in one place, without long-term commitments.

Lebara has signed deals with some of the world’s biggest content players in Europe, Africa and Asia including:

• Sun Network, home to Sun TV, KTV and Adithya, the most popular Tamil entertainment channels worldwide;
• African Movie Channel – licensed for the first time outside Africa – specialists in new and classic African cinema;
• Premium pan-African channel, Ebony Life, and leading Nigerian channel, Silverbird;
• Number one French Nollywood movies channel, Nollywood TV;
• Top-rating Turkish channel ATV Avrupa, alongside Euro D, Eurostar and TV8 International, plus an extensive catalogue of Turkish movies.

All Lebara Play’s content is 100% legal and licensed, which not only produces a consistent and high quality user experience, but also provides a legitimate alternative to counterfeit DVDs and illegal services, and sends out a strong anti-piracy message in support of the creative industries.

Mr Yoganathan Ratheesan, Chairman and CEO of Lebara Group, said, “Serving the migrant community is at the core of everything we do at Lebara. While the need to call loved ones is never far away, as new locations become home for our customers, different needs such as financial services and entertainment become more important. Lebara Play is an unrivalled service designed for an under-served community; and the launch proves that we’re delivering on our plans to disrupt the existing entertainment landscape and diversify our communications business.”

Programming combines the best live TV entertainment with free and premium video on demand content, delivering access to more than 150 top-rated television channels and over 3,000 popular movie titles for Tamil, Turkish, French West African and English West African audiences across Europe. HD and SD quality content is available for streaming on mobile, computer and tablet, or via set-top box on a TV set. Lebara Play will be available in the UK, Germany, Netherlands and France by the end of June. The rest of Europe will be launched over the summer and other territories worldwide by the year-end, with an expanding catalogue to include Romanian, Polish, Hindi and other content packages covering 13 languages.

Aditya Thakur, CEO of Lebara Play, added “We’ve built relationships with some of the leading content companies worldwide, and in the coming months we’ll be announcing further deals to deliver customers even more of the TV and movies they love in their own language. Lebara Play provides a huge range of content – blending the best of video on demand movies and live TV programming – with a simple and intuitive user experience, at a competitive price.”

Key facts about Lebara Play

Here is further information on features and pricing:

• As with all Lebara products and services, Lebara Play has flexible payment options. Voucher top-ups are available at local retail outlets, payable with cash or card – alternatively top up online, or in-app direct from your mobile device;
• Subscription packages start from £9.99/month for web, tablet and smartphone. Sign up for a year and only pay for 10 months;
• The set top box special introductory price of £149 (standard price £199) includes a year’s unlimited viewing of your chosen subscription package;
• The Lebara Play app is available to download for free from Google Play for smartphones or tablets and is coming to iTunes App Store shortly;
• Access on PC or Mac via lebara.com/play, or watch on TV via set top box (available from selected retail stores);
• Register a maximum of three devices to your Lebara Play account, and watch two simultaneously;
• Lebara Play’s platform has been developed in partnership with SPB TV, a leading global provider of end-to-end solutions for content services.

In February 2015, Lebara launched a messaging and calling app, Lebara Talk, expanding its low cost, convenient mobile services and introducing the brand to new markets across the globe. Lebara remains committed to meeting the needs of migrant communities and aims to become the brand of choice for one billion by 2020.