Vivendi is to shut down German OTT subscription video-on-demand service Watchever in December. The news was first reported by French financial daily Les Echos, but was confirmed independently by DTVE’s sister title TBI.
Les Echos, citing unnamed sources, reported that Watchever’s 17-strong team in Berlin have been told that the service will cease to operate as of December 31.
Studio+ is being built around series of shorts programmes of five to 10 minutes in length focusing aimed exclusively at mobile devices.
Vivendi said at the time of the launch of Studio+ that it planned to launch the service in 20 countries in Europe and Latin America before the end of this year. TBI understands that Studio+ will be launched in Latin American markets in partnership with Telefónica.
Vivendi declined to comment when contacted by TBI.
Watchever, which has never made a profit, was launched by Vivendi three years ago, and the service was revamped last year with anew structure based around 25 branded channels.
Recently, Vivendi has been refocusing its energies on southern European markets, and in April struck a major strategic partnership deal with Italy’s Mediaset. That deal, which saw Vivendi take control of Mediaset Premium, the Italian broadcaster’s pay TV arm, also called for the launch of a new OTT platform to combat Netflix, with the OTT platforms of the two groups across Europe to be converged into a single project that would distribute new dedicated content as well as catalogue titles and would be used as a vehicle to expand into new territories.
