RakutenWuaki, Samsung link up

MIPTV: Pan-European SVoD service provider RakutenWuaki has forged an exclusive partnership with Samsung Electronics to roll out the latter’s TV Plus service in Europe.

HeeMan Lee of Samsung and RakutenWuaki’s Jacinto Roca

TV Plus, which launched in Germany in January, will be extended to France, Italy, Spain and the UK under the deal. The service includes IP-based TV channels run by RakutenWuaki, making it Europe’s first VoD service to offer new premium 4K HDR movies.

TV Plus allows Samsung Smart TV owners to access VoD channels via an internet connection and rent or purchase movies directly via an interface.

HeeMan Lee, VP of connected TV services at Samsung Electronics, said the exclusive deal with RakutenWuaki gives consumers “the fastest way to discover the latest 4K HDR movies and entertainment on Samsung QLED TVs.”

RakutenWuaki CEO Jacinto Roca said the TV Plus deal with RakutenWuaki gave “consumers a wide variety of content options from an assortment of different genres and interests – a complete offering for everyone in the family.”

RakutenWuaki.tv, part of Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten, owns a catalogue of family friendly content, spanning newly released blockbusters, classic movies and TV series from US studios Warner Bros, Disney, Sony and Fox, as well as HBO and European distributors.

Samsung’s TV Plus service was first introduced in South Korea in 2015 and is now available in South-East Asia and North America.