Microsoft Azure to host China ISP's new online TV service
Chinese Internet service provider PPTV is launching a new subscription Web television service, and it's using Microsoft's Azure platform to do so.
Today, technology giant Microsoft and Chinese Internet service provider PPTV signed a partnership deal that will bring a new Web TV service to Microsoft's Windows Azure platform.
The deal, Microsoft's first cloud-based collaboration with a local Chinese new media company, will see PPTV's Asia TV Networks (ATN) launched using Azure as its core infrastructure, while the two companies have also agreed to explore further opportunities to work together in online TV and other areas.
ATN is intended as a "local showcase" for subscription online television, according to PPTV. Content can be uploaded by global content providers, and then can be licensed to service providers with a revenue sharing model.
Chuang Tao, chief executive of PPTV, said:
With Windows Azure, we can offer scale and flexibility not found anywhere else. We can also avoid unpredictable resource and demand fluctuations globally. PPTV ATN can thus pass on these benefits to our partners, and in the end to our global customers. This is a new competitive edge for our business.
The signing ceremony took place in Shanghai, attended by Tao; Zhengyi Liu, the deputy district head of Shanghai Pudong New Area District and Ya-Qin Zhang, Microsoft corporate vice president and chairman of Microsoft Asia-Pacific R&D Group.
PPTV is currently the largest online television service operating in China, featuring television shows, sports, entertainment and news content.