Indonesian broadband and pay-TV provider Dens.TV has started building out a suite of bundled VOD services, inking a multi-year licensing pact with Disney Media Distribution for ABC Studios On Demand and Disney Movies On Demand.

Deals with other studios are in the pipeline.

It’s a reflection of how Indonesia’s TV landscape, still anchored to linear free-to-air viewing in much of the country, is starting to evolve, opening the door for new broadband-based platforms and distribution deals.

Dens.TV is run by CBN Group, part of a small group of emerging players in a nascent but fertile domestic market for high-speed fixed broadband, often sold together with linear and on-demand TV.

Earlier this year, the company started rolling out tiered broadband and TV packages under the Dens.TV brand, including channels from international providers such as Celestial Tiger Entertainment, Disney and Fox International Channels.

Disney’s branded VOD products will be offered to Dens.TV’s silver tier subs and up. Disney Channel and Disney Junior linear channels are available in all Dens.TV’s bundled packages.

The agreement, part of Disney’s broader push to deepen consumer connections outside the traditional pay-TV ecosystem, comes around two years after Disney debuted Disney Movies on Demand in Asia as an SVOD service on Hollywood HDTV, an online video aggregator in Thailand formerly known as Hollywood Movie HD.

WIDER ACCESS FOR FIXED BROADBAND

In common with other Southeast Asian growth economies, Indonesia’s high-speed fixed broadband market is relatively small, confined to affluent households in major metros, the capital city in particular, at present.

Nonetheless, a promising growth trajectory has attracted a number of deep-pocketed contenders, while sparking a lot more experimentation around VOD and SVOD services.

LinkNet, a profitable Jakarta-based broadband and digital cable TV company, paved the way. Almost all of LinkNet’s subs have signed up to both pay-TV and broadband, shoring up margins and Arpu.

Incumbent telco Telkom Indonesia is also making strides, rolling out a fiber network with a bundled video offering under a new brand, IndiHome.

These two leaders are followed by smaller ventures, all eyeing a slice of what promises to be a much bigger pie. This segment includes Sky Vision Networks, a new company housing the broadband and pay-TV assets of TV giant Global Mediacom, as well as an overseas foray from Singapore’s MyRepublic, now backed by Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas, in addition to CBN.

In contrast, growth in Indonesia’s pay-TV market is experiencing a slowdown this year, despite relatively low penetration.

“In Indonesia, in a year when pay-TV isn’t growing, there is a demand for high-speed broadband or video hard-bundled with broadband, which is growing,” notes Vivek Couto, executive director at research and consulting firm, Media Partners Asia (MPA).

“According to our numbers, Indonesia will end this year with more than 4.7 million fixed broadband subs, out of which close to 750,000 are 4MB and upwards, which we define as high-speed broadband,” Couto adds.

“Take-up of standalone pay-TV services have slowed down substantially on DTH but take-up of bundled offerings continues to grow."