Starz hires former Hooq execs as Lionsgate Play expands into Indonesia

Starz has announced the expansion of its premium OTT platform Lionsgate Play into Indonesia.

The Southeast Asian country becomes the latest to be added to Starz global footprint which currently includes 55 countries.

Lionsgate Play is a joint-venture from Lionsgate India and Starz, and is currently only available in India. It offers access to a collection of Hollywood movies and series, along with a range of Indian originals. Starz said that all content will be made available with Bahasa subtitles in Indonesia.

Announcing the Indonesian launch, Starz has also confirmed the hires of Guntur Siboro as general manager and Gene Tamesis as vice president of business development and partnerships to lead operations on the regional team. Both join from the now defunct Asian streaming company Hooq Digital which shut down in April 2020. Siboro was the company’s Indonesian country head, while Tamesis was deputy country manager.

The duo will report to managing director South Asia and Networks – emerging markets Asia at Lionsgate, Rohit Jain.

“Great opportunity”

Jain said: “Indonesia is one of the fastest growing economies with a very young and globally connected population, and it has experienced huge growth in its digital economy owing to the surge of high speed internet. Millennials in the territory enthusiastically follow blockbuster Hollywood movies and premium Television. Against this backdrop, we saw a great opportunity for Starz to launch premium global content for Indonesian viewers, particularly given the scarcity of premium OTT platforms in the market.

“I am very pleased to have Guntur and Gene as part of our team to drive this business. Both of them have stellar track records of creating successful and scalable business in the market,”

Indonesia like India is becoming an increasingly competitive market for OTT players. Despite its population of more than 270 million people, only three percent of the country is paying for streaming services, a report this week has revealed. Disney+ Hotstar is by far the leading SVOD in the country with a subscriber base of 2.5 million users while Netflix has fewer than 900,000 subscribers.