SM Prime ties up with Solar

MANILA, Philippines - SM Prime Holdings Inc. is venturing into the digital media space through its partnership with Solar Entertainment Corp. of the Tieng family.

SM Prime, through unit SM Lifestyle & Entertainment Inc., will enter into a joint venture deal with Omni Digital Media Ventures Inc., the digital media group of Solar Entertainment, for a video-on-demand service called Blink.

Blink uses technology that allows consumers to watch a variety of content such as movies, TV series, news and other content anytime, anywhere using their gadgets such as mobile phones, tablets, computers and smart television sets.

 “We’re very positive about this and there is an opportunity. What we’re trying to do is to make the pie bigger. We’re reaching out to a lot more audience as possible,” said SM Prime president Hans T. Sy on the sidelines of the firms’ memorandum of agreement signing yesterday.

 “Remember the early times of the Betamax rental? It was so rampant then, so we just felt we do it digital now,” he added.

The joint venture unite two entertainment giants – SM Lifestyle, the largest cinema exhibitor in the country, and Solar, the country’s leading cable company.

Ronan K. De Guzman, director and chief executive officer of Blink, said the two firms are investing “close to $20 million” for the venture.