Prime Focus Technologies Signs Deal With HOOQ, a Joint Venture Between Singtel, Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros. Entertainment for Over-the-Top Video in Asia

MUMBAI, INDIA--(Marketwired - Jun 7, 2015) - Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology subsidiary of Prime Focus, the world's largest media services powerhouse, has bagged a deal with HOOQ where PFT's CLEAR™ Operations Cloud will help package and deliver content on HOOQ, Asia's new Over-the-Top (OTT) service from Singtel, Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros. Entertainment.

HOOQ will deliver both Hollywood blockbusters and television series, as well as popular local movies and programs to customers anytime, anywhere by enabling them to stream and download their favorite shows on their device or platform of choice. HOOQ will be rolled out progressively across Asia, including India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, from the first quarter of 2015.

The biggest challenge for any OTT platform is speed of delivery as content exists in different formats, varied quality standards, no subtitles, dubs, edits etc. Piecing this puzzle quickly for consumption requires technology. That's the advantage of PFT's CLEAR™, Hybrid Cloud-enabled Media ERP Suite. As part of the deal, CLEAR Operations Cloud will manage key workflows including content processing and packaging. The solution initially includes managing over 20,000 hours of Indian and Hollywood content for HOOQ.

"Prime Focus Technologies is thrilled to be a part of a transformative OTT solution in Asia," said Ramki Sankaranarayanan, Founder and CEO, PFT. "Consumer behavior is changing rapidly and HOOQ will surely have the first mover advantage in the Asian market. Our 'Digital Next' offering, Operations Cloud is uniquely placed to match scale, complexity and disruptive vision of HOOQ to securely present premium global and local content to a billion Asian viewers anytime, anywhere," said Sankaranarayanan.

"Prime Focus Technologies is a known name in innovative Cloud solutions especially in the Asian market," said Peter G. Bithos, CEO of HOOQ. "Their experience and technology prowess will add huge value in managing a project of this scale and size," concluded Bithos.

PFT launched its latest 'Digital Next' offerings at NAB 2015 that enable the M&E industry to cater to hyper digital consumers. With Operations Cloud, M&E clients don't just store and transcode, but perform end-to-end Content Operations on Cloud. It is ready-to-deploy with a wide range of preset robots (TVE, Customer portal, Netflix, YT, DPP) where clients enjoy faster time-to-market at lowest costs with pre-defined SLAs.

About HOOQ
HOOQ is Asia's first premium video-on-demand service to launch across the region. HOOQ is a start-up joint venture established in January 2015 by Singtel, Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros. HOOQ delivers over 15,000 Hollywood blockbusters and popular local programs to customers anytime, anywhere by enabling them to stream and download their favorite shows on their device or platform of choice. HOOQ currently operates in the Philippines and Thailand with a population footprint of over 160M people and will soon launch in India. For more information, visit www.hooq.tv.