Zee forming JV with Voddler Group for proprietary distribution technology for video on demand

Television and entertainment firm Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd's (ZEE) wholly owned subsidiary Asia Today (Mauritius) is forming a joint venture (JV) with Stockholm-based Voddler Group AG, to develop a proprietary storage and streaming technology to facilitate distribution of video on demand on a large scale, as per a stock market disclosure. For this JV, ZEE has committed to invest $5 million (Rs 31 crore).

Voddler specialises in video-on-demand technology and has developed a patented streaming solution VoddlerNet which is based on a server-less peer-to-peer distribution system. Besides this, Voddler offers two services—LiveShelf and ViewShare, powered by VoddlerNet.

Mumbai-based ZEE is one of the largest producers and aggregators of Hindi programmes, with an extensive library housing more than 100,000 hours of original television content. Moreover, with rights to more than 3,000 movie titles, ZEE houses the world's largest Hindi movie library. Through its strong presence worldwide, ZEE reaches over more than 670 million viewers across 169 countries.

ZEE and its affiliate companies have a key presence across the media value chain, including television broadcasting, cable distribution, direct-to-home satellite services, digital media, multiplexes, amusement parks and print media, among others.

The firm had consolidated revenues of Rs 1,101.3 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2013, recording a growth of 15.5 per cent compared with the same quarter last year.

In March this year, the firm invested $4.61 million in digital advertisement firm MirriAd Advertising Pvt Ltd.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)