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Liberty and Zain, along with existing shareholders Sky PLC,
venture capital firm Catcha Group and Los Angeles-based merchant
bank Evolution Media Capital, invested $90 million in iflix, the
companies announced Tuesday. The companies did not disclose how
much each invested and a spokesman for iflix declined to comment
on that.
A Liberty spokesman declined to comment on the size of its
investment. An e-mail to Zain was not immediately returned.
Liberty and Zain are investing in iflix at a time when more
people are watching their favorite shows and movies online.
Two-year old iflix, which has 4.5 million customers, is hoping
to be what Netflix <NFLX.O> is in the United States to viewers
in emerging markets, who mainly use their phones to watch shows
and movies, Patrick Grove, CEO of Catcha Group and founder of
iflix, told Reuters last week.
The streaming video provider, which has deals with more than 170
studios and distributors such as Viacom Inc's <VIAB.O> Paramount
and MGM, is currently in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and
Philippines and is planning to enter the Middle East and Africa
over the next few months, Grove told Reuters.
For telecommunications companies like Liberty Global, investing
in iflix provides insight into the growing streaming video
market as it builds its own video entertainment offerings, Bruce
Mann, chief programming officer at Liberty said in a statement
about the investment.
In September, Liberty struck a deal with Netflix to offer the
streaming video service to all of its customers via cable set
top boxes.
(Reporting By Jessica Toonkel; Editing by Bernard Orr)
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