Chilean OTT Pay TV platform Zapping held a launch event on July 24 with the aim of introducing its service in the Ecuadorian market with heavyweight content. It has been granted exclusive rights to air first and second division local soccer matches. For that purpose, Zapping entered into an agreement with telecommunications operator Xtrim (formerly TV Cable), which had been awarded Ecuadorian soccer broadcasting rights.
Although Xtrim granted Zapping a sublicense to broadcast all local soccer matches, the Free-to-Air agreement between the former and Teleamazonas is still in force. Teleamazonas will air two matches live on each game day.
In the first stage, Zapping will offer a single plan. In addition to Zapping Sports (Zapping’s own sports TV network) channels, which will air all first and second division local soccer matches live, the package will encompass other 20 channels, including Free-to-Air, local and international channels. The monthly fee will be USD 5.99. Each account will allow access to the platform on five devices simultaneously, so long as they are connected to the same home Internet network. The company has announced it will “soon” launch a second plan including local soccer and over 100 channels.
Membership may be acquired through Zapping’s own website, as well as through local telecommunications operators, among which the following have been announced: Xtrim, Netlife, Telconet and Ufinet. In addition, Banco Guayaquil will sell Zapping subscriptions.
During the launch event, Zapping CEO Gustavo Morande said: “Just over a month ago, Xtrim’s Daniel Coronel Kronfle contacted me and his proposal was that we undertake the joint exploitation of Ecuador’s most powerful audiovisual rights: LigaPro exclusive broadcasting rights. We set up our platform in record time: infrastructure, CDN, apps, capture and encoding. As if all this were not enough, we have created a TV channel that will air all the league matches on a exclusive basis with prime quality production throughout the country, as well as talk shows, commentators and a great deal of innovation.
In this way, Zapping celebrates its entry into a new market. Born in Chile, the company then expanded to Brazil and Peru.
