Ellation, an OTT video company whose major funding comes from Otter Media—the joint venture of AT&T (NYSE: T) and The Chernin Group—is launching a new multichannel video platform targeted straight at millennials.
VRV will offer both a premium SVOD service, with a la carte and bundle options, and an ad-supported VOD element. Pricing has not yet been announced, but Ellation expects to launch the new multichannel network "later in 2016," according to a release.
"VRV will be a home where you can discover new channels to love, interact with fellow fans, and engage with creators on a deeper level, especially as we begin to roll out new features for our community," said Ellation CEO Tom Pickett in a media release. "Premium channels like Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth, and the comedy streaming channel Seeso are working hard to bring new and improved programming to their communities. While each of the audiences are unique, they have a significant amount of overlapping interests."
Other channels available on the service will be Geek & Sundry Alpha and Nerdist Alpha, premium content that is offered via Alpha, a premium platform recently announced by Legendary Digital Networks.
VRV combines several millennial-friendly OTT channels under one umbrella – for example, Rooster Teeth, which initially featured comedy targeted to young men, will now reside next to Crunchyroll as well as Cartoon Hangover. It's an interesting concept melding content from numerous owners into a single distribution source … sort of a multichannel online video distribution service, if you will.
Supported devices haven't been announced, but VRV will likely be available first on the Xbox One as Microsoft is serving as a "key partner" for the service.
For more:
- see this Variety article
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