Getting in tune

Pakistan’s first online portal featuring legal video content, aims to bridge the gap between producers and...

KARACHI: The phrase, “Necessity is the mother of all inventions” applies perfectly to the development of the online streaming service Tune.TV. Like countless Pakistanis living abroad, Khawar Hassan, CEO of Tune.TV, had grown tired of purchasing DVDs of popular Pakistani television serials, every time he visited the country.

It was after going through this frustrating exercise time and again that the idea of launching an online streaming portal, dedicated to Pakistani video content, stemmed in the form of Tune.TV.

“The aim is to provide free access to HD quality Pakistani content to viewers,” Hassan tells The Express Tribune. “The content is curated and presented in an interactive manner so that it becomes easier to navigate.”

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With the popular perception being that the website is just another Pakistani video-sharing website to have popped up post the YouTube ban, Khawar clarified that their modus operandi was very different to that of their contemporaries.

“YouTube, Dailymotion are user-generated content websites. There are no checks for ensuring the legality, licensure of content and its fitness for general viewing. Tune.TV only deals in licensed content. This makes it a premium website.”



Osman Nasir, the chief strategy officer of this venture, states how they have their own HTML 5 player, content delivery network and servers which made it more similar to western counterparts, such as Hulu and Netflix.

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Given how TV channels in Pakistan have previously hesitated from uploading content on other streaming portals, their decision to upload their data on Tune.TV, may in fact play a major role in ushering in a new age of digital programming in Pakistan.

“We don’t charge owners any amount for uploading their content on our servers. If channel owners were to approach other streaming portals abroad, they would have to pay a hefty amount of $30,000 just to upload it,” notes Osman.

As more and more content providers come on board, owners of the website are confident it can prove to be a real game-changer in the long run; not just for them but also for advertisers and producers.

“If you notice fast-moving consumer goods such as detergents in Pakistan have shown a reluctance to advertise on the internet,” elaborates Osman. “With portals like ours, there is greater transparency as the advertisers can check the Click Through Rate on the advertisements that accompany shows and can then construct their advertising plan around that”.

If things fall into place, ventures like these will give producers an opportunity to develop fresh content and break away from the current mould of programming —  ‘graduating’ audiences to better content.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2015.

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