Claxson, the multimedia firm under Grupo Cisneros and funds related to Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, have closed its first content deal for broadband outside Argentina. The firm keeps a deal with Fibertel, broadband provider of Cablevision de Argentina, and expanded the presence of its platform Sitio Digital Channel with an agreement for broadband contents and video-on-demand with BrTurbo, ADSL provider of Brasil Telecom.
Claxson has devoted US$ 8 million, as from its creation in December 1999, to the platform that integrates CRM, Direct Marketing, Audio and Video Management, web and 3D, and enables related firms to devise, implement and manage low-cost Internet apps.
Roberto Cibrían Campoy, Senior VP of Broadband & Internet Division in Claxson, talked to Convergencialatina and voiced they were working to expand presence in Brazil. Besides the agreement with Brasil Telecom, they have advanced talks with a fixed operator and a cableco to offer a broadband content platform.
Furthermore, they plan to enter Mexico and Chile with a strong footing, places where they will stay to late 2005. Besides, they are preparing a platform for cell-oriented digital contents, to be available as from the 1Q 05.
Campoy explained the main difference between launching El Sitio Digital Channel via Fibertel, in Argentina, and BrTurbo¿s introduction was that Brazil will count on packs differentiated per content (family/adult/Playboy TV). Besides, Brasil Telecom shows a tougher strategy, supplemented with the fact of being the second main firm in broadband users in Latin America, following Telefonica. The Brazilian incumbent ended the quarter with 456,100 ADSL clients, 90.5% up from last year.
The agreement with Brazil sees no exclusivity as regards revenues, to be split in a 50- 50% ratio. By late 2005, the incumbent expects to reach 75,000 clients of the platform against the 36,000 users registered by Fibertel, as from October 2003.
Claxson gathers the pay-TV signals Fox Sports, Playboy TV (in Brazil, rights are shared with Editorial Abril), MuchMusic, Infinito, Fashion TV, Venus, Utilísima, Retro.
Another difference of Brasil Telecom is that the operator allows subtracting the value of Claxson broadband contents from the phone bill or BrTurbo bill. Campoy summed up “the difference lies on scale and product kind”.
In turn, Brasil Telecom has also struck a deal with Cartoon Network, Turner Broadcasting, so as to expand broadband contents. The contract is the first to be devoted to video-on-demand, launched on October 19th, in Sao Paulo together with Claxson.
The operator bases contents on its Content Delivery Network (CDN), an exclusive network for multimedia contents running on its IP backbone, to offer video-on-demand on ADSL.
The Internet division in Brasil Telecom, accounting for 8.5% (US$ 94.5 million) of Brasil Telecom¿s turnover, manages not only the broadband provider BrTurbo, but also the free dial-up access firms iBest and iG –that bring in some US$ 300 million for interconnection revenues- and the undersea cable network of Globenet, connecting Brazil with the USA and the Caribbean.
Brasil Telecom has recently opened its second Cyber Data Center in Brasilia, to be added to other data centers located in Porto Alegre, Curitiba and Sao Paulo.