YuppTV launches service in India, aims to raise $50 million

YuppTV, an Internet-based TV streaming service provider, launched operations in the country on Wednesday, with plans to raise $50 million (about Rs 325 crore) towards business expansion.

"We are planning to raise $50 million in the next three to four months as part of expansion plans," Uday Reddy, Founder and CEO of the US-based company, told reporters. YuppTV, founded in 2006, had earlier raised $11 million.

The company is a leading over-the-top (OTT) provider for Indian content, and has entered the market with over 200 channels in 12 languages.

Apart from the live TV experience, YuppTV has offered 'Catch-Up TV' technology for the first time in India, whereby viewers can watch TV content from past seven days and never miss their favourite shows, Reddy said.

"Viewers will also have access to more than 5,000 movies, which will be scaled up to 8,000 movies and hundreds of TV shows.

"As part of the Video-On-Demand (VOD) service, YuppTV has over 25,000 hours of video content in its catalogue and 2,500 hours more are added every day," he said.

YuppTV also provides real-time recommendations to the viewers on most trending live TV channels using advanced analytics, Reddy said. It has introduced time-shift technology that enables broadcasters to provide viewers capability to pause and rewind live TV for up to two hours, he added.

Reddy further said that YuppTV service is accessible on multiple Internet enabled devices like smart TVs, smartphones and tablets. YuppTV app can be downloaded on any Android and iOS device and has a potential to reach more than 200 million smartphone users, he said.

"YuppTV app is already available on majority of smart TVs in India. Inspite of limited high speed Internet infrastructure in India, YuppTV promises to provide bufferless TV viewing experience using adaptive bit rate technology to viewers even on 2G connections," he claimed.

West Indies batting legend Brian Lara, who was present on the occasion, said, "I feel excited to be part of YuppTV s launch in India. I have been associated with YuppTV in Trinidad too, along with their Technology partner TSTT".

Telangana s Panchayat Raj and IT Minister K T Rama Rao and Bollywood actress Parineeti Chopra were also present on the occasion.