Lukup to provide TV, Internet on single device

The four-year-old start-up has got its MSO licence for distributing TV contents

Lukup Media on Wednesday said that they have received the government nod to operate as a multi-service operator (MSO) across the country. This will enable the company to distribute TV as well as video-on-demand contents across India.

Recently, Reliance Jio Media had also received an MSO licence. The new entrants in the MSO space will compete with the likes of Hathway, IMCL and DEN Networks in TV and video-on-demand content distribution.

While most of the MSOs only provide TV connections, Lukup Media is seeking to provide both TV and Internet connections through the same device.

The company will enable this by introducing the second version of the Lukup Player that will enable customers to have a single connection for linear live TV channels, video-on-demand and Internet access. Currently, the first version of the device only provides TV and video-on-demand contents.

The new Lukup Player will combine the functionality of a set-top-box, and a router and work on the cloud.

Currently, a user pays for content to Lukup and pay the Internet and DTH bill to service providers. However, with the introduction of the newer version of the device, customers will be able to pay their Internet, video-on-demand as well as TV subscriptions on one platform, i.e., Lukup. The trial for this service will start on July 25.

Four-year-old Lukup Media started by providing technology products to DTH companies to enable them to build interactive services and to provide contents on multiple screens along with a platform for unlimited media storage.

The company started providing Over-The-Top services in October 2014 and applied for an MSO licence in November 2014.

With the new licence coming in, the company looks to activate its national, city as well as local cable networks. Initially, for this year, the company plans to take off with Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Mumbai. New Delhi and Gujarat will follow soon.

Next year, the company looks to cover 47 cities with over a million population.

Lukup Player also allows users to stream contents on multiple devices and not TV alone. With the high penetration of smartphone and smart devices in the country, making Internet and video contents accessible to multi-screen devices is the trend that will take the segment by storm. According to a recent InMobi report, mobile has surpassed TV and online on the time spent. As multi-screen behaviour is catching up, mobile is catching up with traditional media as one of the key media for entertainment alongside search and communication activities.