Lebara is aiming to bridge the content gap with the launch of a new ‘entertainment service for migrants’. The service will bring together free content in 13 languages in one place, without long-term commitments.
Lebara has signed deals with content players in Europe, Africa and Asia including: Sun Network, home to several Tamil entertainment channels; African Movie Channel, licensed for the first time outside Africa; Pan-African channel, Ebony Life, and Nigerian channel, Silverbird; French Nollywood movies channel, Nollywood TV; and Turkish channel ATV Avrupa, alongside Euro D, Eurostar and TV8 International, plus a catalogue of Turkish movies.
Programming combines live TV entertainment with free video on-demand, delivering access to more than 150 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.
“Serving the migrant community is at the core of everything we do at Lebara,” said Yoganathan Ratheesan, chairman and CEO of Lebara Group. “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.”
As with other 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 a mobile device. Subscription packages start from £9.99 per month, and the set-top box will sell for a special introductory price of £149 (standard price £199). 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.
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.”
