In a grand ceremony held in Karachi last night, PTCL and Ufone officially announced their new video streaming platform, ‘SHOQ’.
The launch was attended by who’s who of the film and TV industry, top executives from PTCL and Ufone including President and Group CEO Hatem Bamatraf, CEO e& Life Khalifa AlShamsi, CEO eVision Oliver Bramley, and CEO StarzPlay Maaz Ahmad Sheikh.
Powered by eVision, a leading provider of digital entertainment and a subsidiary of e& (previously known as Etisalat, the parent company of PTCL), SHOQ offers a seamless and engaging user experience with exclusive content for Pakistani internet users.
SHOQ aims to compete in the growing OTT video market, taking on established players such as Jazz’s Tamasha and Telenor’s Goonj.
While the OTT market in Pakistan is still in its early stages, Jazz and Telenor enjoy a significant advantage with millions of users on their platforms.
But SHOQ isn’t a new app and it isn’t starting from scratch. It will replace PTCL’s widely used PTCL Smart TV app. On top of it, SHOQ will enjoy the audience of PTCL’s Smart TV subscribers as well.
And not to mention, since the acquisition cost of Pakistani app users is very insignificant (at times less than Rs. 12 a user), it will be interesting to see how SHOQ will be riding the boat for months and years to come.
Clearly, the real battle will be around the quality of content and not the subscriber numbers at this stage.
SHOQ claims to set itself apart from its rivals with a user-friendly interface, clear and concise information, and exclusive, original content.
The platform also offers a simple and intuitive navigation system for an enhanced overall user experience.
SHOQ is said to be made possible through a partnership between PTCL and eVision (the multimedia wing of Etisalat). And with eVision being the majority stakeholder in StarzPlay, SHOQ will enjoy exclusive access to a vast range of entertainment and music content that’s available on StarzPlay.
SHOQ is launched with an array of Hollywood blockbusters from major studios such as Warner Bros, Disney, Paramount, Sony, and more, over a hundred TV channels, and a diverse collection of Pakistani drama shows.
In a unique offering, SHOQ will also provide dedicated dongles for non-smart TVs, making it easy for users to access a wide range of TV channels and exclusive media content.
Pricing
SHOQ promises a new level of premium video streaming services in Pakistan with a subscription model that will start at a very low price of Rs. 8 per day (including taxes).
Below are other plans:
- Daily: Rs. 8 (including taxes)
- Weekly: Rs. 42 (including taxes)
- Monthly lite: Rs. 120 (including taxes)
- Monthly Premium: Rs. 299 (including taxes)
For Ufone users, SHOQ will come with 10GB of free internet package per month, i.e. for any SHOQ consumption, data will be consumed from this 10GB free offering.
