South Africans can look forward to a new an innovative entertainment platform that is flexible, affordable and brings everything together in one place: sports, kids entertainment, video-on-demand and live TV. black is that platform.
Launching on 14 November, black will bring to consumers a full 360-entertainment experience from video-on-demand through to live TV streaming, catering for both the local market, and those that enjoy international content. It will include live streaming of five top European football club channels, and services like sports betting and hotel bookings. black is an interactive ecosystem that will give customers an array of choice in a single environment; they won’t need to go anywhere else for content.
black is being brought to consumers as a new separate division within Cell C which is focused on delivering entertainment and content. However, it is network agnostic; meaning it will be available to any consumer with an internet connection from as little as R5 a day.
“Cell C is a business that constantly pushes the bar by bringing to customers the services they want at an incredibly affordable price. Content services around the world are growing as fast as mobile did in its early days and true to Cell C’s form we are embracing content by bringing black to South Africans,” says Cell C CEO Jose Dos Santos.
Around the world, on-demand content is growing at incredible rates with international research from Nielson showing that almost two-thirds of the global population watching some form of on-demand content. “In comparison, the same content is only being served to one-fifth of African viewers. We know that the pricing and flexibility of black will change that,” says Dos Santos.
At launch, customers subscribing to black will be able to access a video-on-demand offering that will include up to 5000 movies, series, music and documentaries, which will include both international and local content.
The platform has been designed to allow for flexible watching. Customers will be able to choose which live TV channels they want to watch and when; they will have a choice of daily, weekly, weekend or monthly subscriptions. “This really opens the market to more South Africans looking for content, providing affordable and relevant content to those that have not had access to it before,” says Dos Santos.
Customers will be able to access 60 live TV channels, which include music, news, travel and lifestyle, movies and children’s content. And as an added bonus, black has secured the rights to five European football TV channels, namely MANU TV, BARCA TV, LIVERPOOL TV, CHELSEA TV and REAL MADRID TV where football fans can access behind the scenes footage, interviews with players, games and much more content specific to each football club.
In addition, black will be offering customers the opportunity to purchase or rent the latest movies before any other service in South Africa at an incredible price point. These movies will also be available for download for offline viewing.
black will offer many features, including parental control so kids can watch in a secure and controlled environment, scheduled downloads to save on data costs, recommendations based on total family viewing, up to 48 hours look-back on BTV channels so that customer can catch-up on what they have missed, rent or buy a movie without subscribing to a contract giving easy access, flexible packages and access to up to 5 devices, two of which can be watched simultaneously.
At launch, black will be packed with incredible content and more will be added daily. This platform has been developed to make entertainment available to more South Africans.
*Adapted from a press release