Cisco Systems and European pay-TV provider Sky have teamed up to launch OnPrime TV, an OTT service offering foreign-language content.
The service, which is only available in Germany and the U.K. right now, offers different “packs” that put together various channels from other countries. Currently, the service offers three packs, though it is promising more foreign language packs in the future.
The Arabic pack costs £9.99 ($12.64) per month and the Russian pack costs £17.99 ($22.77) per month. Both come with a one-month free trial and no contract. The Russian pack includes channels like 1+1 International and the Arabic pack includes Rotana Aflam.
The News pack, interestingly, is free and features reports from Sky News and France 24 in Arabic, English and French.
For now, OnPrime TV features fairly limited device availability. The service is only compatible with Apple TV but will be rolling out to Android and iOS devices, Roku, PlayStations 3 and 4, Xbox One and the web.
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“We are constantly working to ensure that everyone interested has access to the channel’s content in a way convenient for them. After all, there has been an increase in audience interest to 1+1 International,” said Vladislav Svinchenko, general producer of 1+1 International, in a statement reported by Broadband TV News. “On the one hand, this contributes to capacity growth and success of the 1+1 Media’s in-house production; on the other hand, it to the development of technical capabilities for signal delivery. We believe that this partnership will bring long-term benefits and OnPrime TV will soon become the European audience’s favorite platform.”
While it’s unclear whether OnPrime will launch in the U.S. at some point, Broadband TV News points out that a federal trademark for the OnPrime TV name has been filed in San Jose, California, which is where Cisco is headquartered.
According to the U.S. trademark, OnPrime is for “audio and video broadcasting services, broadcasting audio and video content over global computer networks, video-on-demand transmission services, pay-per-view video and audio transmission services.”