عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Entertainment

Apple Eyes Bigger Slice of India's Streaming, Music Market with Airtel Deal

FILE PHOTO: An Apple logo is pictured in an Apple store in Paris, France, March 6, 2024. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: An Apple logo is pictured in an Apple store in Paris, France, March 6, 2024. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
TT
TT

Apple Eyes Bigger Slice of India's Streaming, Music Market with Airtel Deal

FILE PHOTO: An Apple logo is pictured in an Apple store in Paris, France, March 6, 2024. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: An Apple logo is pictured in an Apple store in Paris, France, March 6, 2024. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo

Apple is tying up with India's Bharti Airtel to offer the telecom firm's premium customers its music and video streaming services for free, giving the US giant access to thousands of consumers in the world's most populous nation.
With mostly English-language content, Apple TV+ is a small player in India's $28 billion media and entertainment market, where its rivals include Netflix, Amazon Prime Video , Disney+ Hotstar and billionaire Mukesh Ambani's JioCinema.
The move comes as competition tightens in India and an $8.5-billion merger of the Indian media assets of Reliance and Walt Disney - which have a streaming service each - faces close scrutiny from antitrust regulators.
"Apple TV+ will come bundled with premium Airtel WiFi and Postpaid plans," Airtel said in a statement on Tuesday, though the companies did not disclose a deal value for the partnership or information on costs.
Apple Music will also be available for current premium users of Airtel's Wynk music app, which will be shut down. Its employees are being subsumed by the company, Reuters quoted Airtel as saying.
Two sources familiar with the strategy said that for Apple, the deal is aimed at reaching out to a much bigger pool of consumers with its digital services given Airtel is the country's second biggest telecom operator with 281 million subscribers.
Ambani's Reliance Jio telecom service has 489 million users.
The Apple TV+ streaming service, known for its original series like Ted Lasso, The Morning Show and Slow Horses, has so far differentiated itself in the streaming landscape with a focus on in-house content.
Most rival platforms in India and overseas offer users older movies and TV shows from other studios, as well as their own originals.
Airtel will within days announce new tariff plans that will include free Apple TV+ offerings, said two other sources with direct knowledge of its plans.
Currently, the Apple TV+ service retails at $9.99 per month in the US and 99 Indian rupees ($1.18) per month in India, compared to Ambani's JioCinema which offers cricket content for free and has plans as cheap as 29 rupees a month. Netflix starts with monthly tariff of 149 rupees.
Cricket is seen as a way to attract more customers to streaming platforms in India, and Disney lost millions of Indian users last year when it lost streaming rights to Ambani's Reliance for streaming the world's richest cricket tournament, the Indian Premier League.
Apple has 6% of India's 690 million smartphone users, according to data from research firm Counterpoint. The remaining market is dominated by phones from Samsung and Xiaomi, and are powered by Google's Android operating system.
Apple Music is currently priced at 99 Indian rupees per month and has a library of 100 million songs.

Most Viewed

 
 
Entertainment

Oasis to Reunite for 2025 World Tour as Gallaghers End Fraternal Feud

Fan Emily McShane, takes a photograph of a new street artwork depicting Oasis' Liam and Noel Gallagher, created by Manchester-based street artist Pic.One.Art. on the side of the Sifters Record store in Burnage, a suburb of Manchester, northern England on August 27, 2024. (AFP)
Fan Emily McShane, takes a photograph of a new street artwork depicting Oasis' Liam and Noel Gallagher, created by Manchester-based street artist Pic.One.Art. on the side of the Sifters Record store in Burnage, a suburb of Manchester, northern England on August 27, 2024. (AFP)
TT
TT

Oasis to Reunite for 2025 World Tour as Gallaghers End Fraternal Feud

Fan Emily McShane, takes a photograph of a new street artwork depicting Oasis' Liam and Noel Gallagher, created by Manchester-based street artist Pic.One.Art. on the side of the Sifters Record store in Burnage, a suburb of Manchester, northern England on August 27, 2024. (AFP)
Fan Emily McShane, takes a photograph of a new street artwork depicting Oasis' Liam and Noel Gallagher, created by Manchester-based street artist Pic.One.Art. on the side of the Sifters Record store in Burnage, a suburb of Manchester, northern England on August 27, 2024. (AFP)

Oasis plan to reunite after 15 years, with news on Tuesday that brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher are lining up a series of gigs in 2025 crashing the British band's website and sending hotel prices soaring.

The group, whose debut album "Definitely Maybe" was released 30 years ago, split in 2009 when lead guitarist and main songwriter Noel said he could no longer work with frontman Liam after a number of public spats between the siblings.

"This is it, this is happening," the band said on X, announcing tickets would go on sale on Saturday. The first of 14 shows will be in Cardiff, Wales next July, followed by nights in Manchester – where the band was formed in 1991 – London, Edinburgh and Dublin.

"The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised," the band said in a statement on their website, which said the performances would be part of a planned world tour.

Both brothers have enjoyed individual musical success and acclaim since Oasis split up, but always against the backdrop of calls from fans for the band to reunite.

Tuesday's announcement follows a weekend of speculation about a reunion, which music streaming platform Spotify said had prompted a 160% spike in streaming globally over a two-hour period on Monday compared with the previous week.

"It's very safe to assume that those streams are going to continue increasing across the week now that we have official confirmation, and leading up to tickets going on sale on Saturday," said Sara Sesardic, Spotify's editorial lead for the UK and Ireland.

The news also prompted prices for hotel rooms for the nights of Oasis' planned shows to spike, with few cheaper rooms available in Manchester on the nights of the gigs.

A similar jump took place ahead of Taylor Swift's recent tour this summer, including when she came to Britain.

A tour in 2025 will mark the 30th anniversary of Oasis' second album "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?", which included the singles "Don't Look Back in Anger" and "Wonderwall".

The release of "Roll with It" from the album in August 1995 put Oasis head-to-head with rival Blur's "Country House" in a chart battle that was seized upon by the media. Blur won the coveted number one spot.

"(What's the Story) Morning Glory?" went on to sell more than 22 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling album of the 1990s in Britain and the band's breakthrough in the United States.

The Gallaghers were often at loggerheads when touring in the 1990s and their hostility continued after Oasis split.

"He thinks he's the man and I think I'm the man, do you know what I mean?" Liam said in 2017.