Singtel Announces First-In-The-World Landmark Deal With Warner Bros. International Television Distribution

SingTel has announced that it has signed a groundbreaking deal with Warner Bros. International Television Distribution (WBITD) that will make it possible for its mio TV service to screen up to 60 top Warner Bros. U.S. series as early as 24 hours after their U.S. premiere. SingTel’s SVOD Service, mio TV, will be the first in the world to offer such a huge slate of top U.S. series within a day of their U.S. telecast, way ahead of free-to-air and other pay TV channels.

This service, called Season Pass, will launch this September, and the programme scheduling will follow the U.S. TV calendar. mio TV is the first pay TV operator in the world to offer the largest volume of unlimited on-demand viewing by subscription of the latest seasons of popular American TV series debuting in the U.S. from September this year, such as Chuck, One Tree Hill, Without a Trace, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Supernatural, Gossip Girl and many more.

“Consumers are getting increasingly demanding. They want to get the latest TV hits ahead of anyone else and, now, mio TV is filling this gap with our latest offering. Who doesn’t want to be a ‘water-cooler’ hero?,” noted Allen Lew, SingTel’s CEO. “We see this as the next big wave of content consumption in Singapore.”

“We are thrilled to be in business with SingTel as it launches its mio TV service to bring our series to Singapore viewers in this most unique SVOD environment,” said Jeffrey R. Schlesinger, President, Warner Bros. International Television.

Favourites-on-Demand
To whet subscribers’ appetites, starting today mio TV is also launching another exciting new offering called Favourites-on-Demand. This on-Demand service allows customers to watch 10 popular TV series between now and 16 October.

Available over three months at S$9.99 per month, Favourites-on-Demand will show all time favourites like Smallville, Nip/Tuck, Supernatural, The Bachelor, Cold Case and Without a Trace. Don’t miss out on the exclusive Singapore TV premiere of Gossip Girl and other new series like Chuck, Pushing Daisies and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, all on demand.

“This agreement comes at a great time as we are celebrating mio TV’s first anniversary and our subscribers will now have more exciting channels and programmes to look forward to. mio TV’s Favourites-On-Demand provides our customers with a convenient way to catch up with their favourite TV shows anytime, and as many times as they want to,” said Mr Low. “We have chosen series across genres that are popular with TV viewers. The difference is that they enjoy unlimited on-demand viewing for a monthly subscription fee instead of being forced into a fixed schedule on a daily or weekly basis through scheduled programming as offered by other TV platforms.”

Customers can watch their favourite shows when they want at their convenience as there is no schedule to follow, and as many times as they like.

Catch them exclusively first on mio TV
First up on Favourites-on-Demand is Gossip Girl, the hottest new series that Singapore has been waiting for. Nominated for Favourite New TV Drama at the 2008 People’s Choice Awards, Gossip Girl is certain to prove hugely entertaining here. The Singapore TV premiere season will be exclusively by subscription to SingTel’s mio TV, and has not been shown on any cable or free-to-air channel.

Filmed in New York and based on the popular series of young-adult novels by Cecily von Ziegesar, the cast of the show are fast becoming household names in the U.S. The series revolves around the lives of privileged prep school teens on Manhattan’s Upper East Side who learn all their important news from the blog of the all-knowing but ultra-secretive Gossip Girl. No one knows Gossip Girl’s identity, but everyone in this exclusive and complicated vicious circle relies on her website and text messages for the latest scoop.

Fans of The Bachelor will be thrilled to know that the latest season is set to return to our shores exclusively on mio TV. It features the first international bachelor – Matt Grant, a 27-year-old global financier from London and self-described “British gentleman.” Tune in to find out which girl will make it far in the game and who will go home first as The Bachelor’s first international star sets out to prove that love has no borders..

The latest season of popular detective series Without a Trace (series 6) will also be available exclusively first on mio TV. From executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Pearl Harbor, the Pirates of the Caribbean films and The Amazing Race), the series stars Anthony LaPaglia, who has been nominated for an Emmy® and won a Golden Globe for his work as senior agent Jack Malone of the special FBI task force known as the Missing Persons Squad.

Mio TV customers can also look forward to the latest seasons of favourite series Nip/Tuck. In its debut season, it was the highest-rated new series on American basic cable, and the highest-rated basic cable series of all time for the 18–49 and 25–54 age demographics.

Computer geek by day, secret agent by night: Chuck is a light hearted, fun action/spy series available on Favourites on Demand. Chuck was also nominated for Best New TV Comedy Series at the 2008 People’s Choice Awards.

Described as a “forensic fairy tale” about a pie maker who has the power to bring back the dead, “Pushing Daisies” was recently nominated for 12 Primetime Emmy® Awards, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Lee Pace, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Kristin Chenoweth, Directing for Barry Sonnenfeld and Writing for series creator Bryan Fuller. Time magazine’s James Poniewozik named it one of the Top 10 New TV Series of 2007.

Spinning off from the Terminator series of films, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles revolves around the lives of the fictional characters Sarah and John Connor, following the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Also available on demand will be the latest seasons of Smallville, Supernatural and Cold Case.