Movistar, the Telefonica-owned pay TV and telecom service provider, has relaunched its Movistar Plus+ offering with an enhanced subscription streaming service that will be available to consumers in Spain, regardless of their telco provider.
Previously, Movistar Plus+ TV was only available to Movistar customers.
Now, available starting August 1, the new Movistar Plus+ service is touting a wide slate of content across sports, originals and exclusives, international series, documentaries and entertainment, and new films.
The streaming TV service promises one movie premiere per day, and importantly, one soccer match of LaLiga and the Champions League per day. Matches will be announced weekly and selected based on interest in the competitions, according to Movistar.
While Movistar Plus+ is available to non-Movistar customers, those that already get services from the provider will see a discounted rate. Movistar customers that already have the MovistarPlus Essential TV package will automatically get the updated programming and streaming service at their existing price of EUR 11. And other Movistar customers without the TV package can also pay 11 euros per month to sign up for the new service, which also means access to Movistar TV functionalities, such as live rewinding, recording programming, multi-device availability and access to on-demand content across any channel in the last seven days. For all other consumers, Movistar Plus+ in OTT mode costs 14 euros per month.
In announcing the relaunch, Movistar said the linear Movistar Plus+ channel will be the flagship and centerpiece of the platform, serving key content, and a jumping off point for four original thematic channels. Movistar said the channel will include all new fiction programs such as La Resistencia, music, documentaries, and sports matchups such as the NBA, ACB, tennis and rugby, as well as the aforementioned soccer matches.
As for the four thematic channels Movistar is created, they include: Movies, Series, Music, and Documentaries. The company plans to add originals and a pop-up channel to offer every month.
Movistar+ first came on the scene in 2015 offering 80 channels as a traditional pay TV service, with the brand a result of the merger between Canal+ and MovistarTV following Telefonica’s acquisition.
And this isn’t Movistar’s first foray into streaming. In 2019 Telefonica launched Moviestar+ Lite, an over-the-top service available to both Movistar and non-Movistar customers. However, Variety, citing data from Omdia, reported the VOD service had tepid uptake and only reached 323,000 subscribers.
As of the end of March 2023, Telefonica had 3.47 million pay TV subscribers in Spain, reflecting a 4.7% decline from the same period a year ago. The operator reports second quarter