Sony LIV is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Culver Max Entertainment. Sony LIV was introduced in 2013[2] as the first OTT service in India.[3] As a streaming service, it provides live sports, original titles, other content titles from its own networks and content titles in India licensed from third-parties such as Lionsgate and ITV among others. The Sony LIV content library includes films, TV shows and series, and sports.
 Sony LIV logo | |
| Type of business | Streaming |
|---|---|
Type of site | OTT platform |
| Available in | |
| Headquarters | |
| Country of origin | India |
| Area served | Canada, Europe, Middle East, Indo-Pacific, South Asia, and United States |
| Owner | Sony Pictures Networks [Culver Max Entertainment Pvt. Ltd] |
| Industry | |
| Products | |
| Services |
|
| Parent | Sony |
| URL | www |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Required[a] |
| Users |  33.3 million (paid; May 2023)[1] |
| Launched | 22 January 2013 |
| Current status | Active |
History
editSony LIV was launched on 23 January 2013,[4] by Culver Max Entertainment.
LIV Sports
editLIV Sports was launched on 1 June 2014 by Culver Max Entertainment[5] (as a new sports streaming service exclusively for sports properties). LIV Sports was the official mobile and internet broadcaster for the 2014 FIFA World Cup starting 12 June 2014. LIV Sports aired both live and video-on-demand match content with statistics and analysis.[6] However, this service was integrated into Sony LIV. Since then, LIV Sports has been a part of Sony LIV.
Sony LIV first revamp (2018)
edit
Sony LIV underwent its first revamp and started to stream live television channels. Since then, Sony LIV has added many shows and movies to its portfolio. On 1 November 2018, Sony LIV and Lionsgate entered a multi-year content[7] deal. As part of the deal, Sony LIV will offer an embedded Lionsgate Play with over 500 hours of premium-original series on its platform.
In 2019, Sony LIV started to stream live channels of other networks, including news channels.
Sony LIV second revamp (2020)
edit Sony LIV revamped its content and interface in May 2020 using AWS Cloud.[8] Sony LIV uses Amazon ElastiCache to support real-time, in-memory caching at scale, Amazon CloudFront as a low-latency content delivery network, and Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS) as a highly available message queuing service.
In June 2020, Sony LIV underwent a revamp for the second time, and this time they started to stream content from Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Pictures Television Studios, ITV and Reliance Entertainment. Also, Sony LIV started to stream its own original movies and series. Since 2020, Sony LIV has taken more of an active role as a producer and distributor for both films and series, offering original programming content through its online library.
Sony LIV was launched as a streaming service in the United States on Sling TV, streaming all the shows available in India on the app.[9][10]
On 15 January 2021, WWE Network[11] was launched in India through Sony LIV.
Sony LIV was launched in Canada on 14 October 2021.[12] It was launched in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore on 25 February 2021. On 12 June 2021, as part of Europe Phase-1, Sony LIV was launched in France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK (9 April 2021). On 1 October 2021, as part of Europe Phase-2, Sony LIV was launched in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Sweden.[13] On 26 April 2024, Sony LIV was launched in the United States.
Content
editCurrent broadcasting rights
edit- 2022 Asian Games (2023)[14]
- US Open (2022–24)[15]
Past broadcasting rights
editCurrent content partners
editOverview
editSony LIV's core library consists of 18+ years of content from Culver Max Entertainment's channels including Sony TV, Sony SAB, Sony Aath and Sony Marathi; and more than 700+ movies, which means a total of 40,000+ hours of television show coverage in Hindi and English.[4]
Since its launch, Sony LIV has streamed live sports events.
It also features content titles in India licensed from third-parties such as Lionsgate and ITV among others.
History
editAfter Sony Pictures Networks India's acquisition of Ten Sports Network, all TEN Sports live programs became part of its broadcast. Since then, Sony LIV has been streaming WWE Raw, WWE SmackDown and other WWE pay-per-view events, and UFC.
Sony LIV is the first Indian OTT media service platform to produce music content for a Hollywood feature film – producing music for the Hindi version of the blockbuster titled Passengers, starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. The singers for the original soundtrack titled Aadat included Jubin Nautiyal, Shirley Setia and Raftaar. Since then Sony LIV has produced more than 100 songs which are now available on the app, YouTube, JioSaavn and many other online music service platforms worldwide.
Varieties of anime originals from Animax were available on Sony LIV to stream. After shutting down a linear TV channel on 18 April 2017, Animax[16] was made available exclusively as a digital streaming channel in India from 7 July 2017 to 7 May 2020.[17]
Sony LIV also streamed cricket matches played by Pakistan,[18] Australia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies and Zimbabwe, and Grand Prix motorcycle racing.
Until early 2021, it also streamed the National Basketball Association.
Beginning with the 2022 US Open, Sony Pictures Networks India will have the exclusive live television and digital rights to the US Open in India through 2024. As of August 2023, US Open would livestream on Sony LIV.[15]
Sony LIV Originals
editSony LIV has streamed a number of original streaming television series. The first-ever original was a Gujarati web series titled Kacho Papad Pako Papad[19] and it is streaming since 2017.
Sony LIV underwent a revamp in its appearance in June 2020.[20] Since then, Sony LIV provides their original shows in 5–7 languages. Other than Hindi, Sony LIV releases originals in the other languages after 1–2 weeks from the release date.
Rocket Boys, Scam 1992, Maharani, Avrodh: The Siege Within, Chutzpah, Undekhi, and Tanaav are some of the popular Sony LIV original shows.
Genres
editSony LIV features content in the following key genres: comedy, crime, drama, horror and action.[21]
Interface and features
editLivestreaming
editSelect ongoing sports and related events to which the network or its partners have acquired rights, are also made available for livestreaming.
Sony LIV also livestreamed its own and partnered TV channels on the platform. As of August 2023, Sony LIV communicated to the subscribers that their Live TV channels will be discontinued from Sony LIV from 30 August 2023.
Play Along
editOption to register for and then play certain games is available in the app. This includes games such as QOTY (Qizzer of the Year) and KBC Play Along. The KBC Play Along is the most popular game in Sony LIV .
Profiles
editUp to 5 user profiles are available each with its own watchlist, play progress and watch history. Optional common PIN protection can be set for 'Adults' profiles. 'Kids' profile can be set without an option of setting any PIN.
Availability and access
editSony LIV is available based on location, subscription, and device hardware & software.
Locations supported
editSony LIV is available in Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bhutan, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Kuwait, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Netherlands, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom. It is also available in the United States via Sling TV and as a standalone app. Despite making it international. 
Pakistan is GEOBLOCKED
Subscriptions
editAs of August 2023, multiple subscription options are available based on screen size, devices, stream quality and duration. Apart from full featured 'LIV Premium'; a 'mobile only' subscription option is available.
Devices and platforms supported
editList of Sony LIV supported devices and platforms includes the following:
- TV sets
- Amazon Fire TV (Android 5.0 and above)
- Android TV (Android 6.0 and above)
- Foxxum smart TV (2019 and above)
- LG smart TV (webOS 4.x and above)
- Netrange smart TV (2019 and above)
- Samsung smart TV (2018 and above)
- Sony Bravia smart TV (2017 and above)
- Media players
- Amazon Fire TV (Android 5.0 and above)
- Apple TV (tvOS 12.0 and above)
- Chromecast (Generation 2 and above)
- Roku
- Desktop website browsers
- Smartphones
- Tablets
- Mobile website browsers
Viewership
editAs of August 2015, Sony LIV had reached about 25 million views on a monthly basis.[22]
Sony LIV security flaw
editOn 20 December 2019, Bengaluru-based security researcher Ehraz Ahmed discovered a security flaw in the Sony LIV app, that allowed to fetch sensitive user information such as profile picture, email address, date of birth, name and phone number of its registered users.[23]
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ Optional in India, but monthly subscription is required to access additional content.
References
edit- ^ "SonyLIV has 33.3 mn paid subscribers globally, 40,000 hours of content: NP Singh". 18 May 2023.
- ^ Laghate, Gaurav (2013). "Sony Launches Video on Demand". Business Standard India.
- ^ "avatar - Gravatar Profile". En.gravatar.com. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
- ^ a b Deb, Debabrata (15 July 2018). "The ultimate SonyLIV review: Everything you need to know". finder India. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
- ^ "Multiscreen Media Launches Liv Sports". The Hindu Business Line. 2 June 2014.
- ^ "2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Live Online Streaming Available Through Sony LIV Application". Indiantvinfo.com. 14 February 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
- ^ Laghate, Gaurav (1 November 2018). "Sony LIV, Lionsgate India partner to offer premium content". economic times.
- ^ "Sony LIV Grows Subscriber Base Tenfold and Enhances Streaming Platform Supported by AWS".
- ^ "Watch Live Indian TV Channels - Shows and Movies Online | Sling TV". Sling.com. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
- ^ Palermo, Philip (31 May 2020). "Sling TV Adds Sony Pictures Networks India's SonyLIV VOD Service". Cord Cutters News. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
- ^ Dua, Priyanka (16 January 2021). "SonyLIV Launches WWE Pack At Rs. 299; Offering Five Profiles And Offline Content Download". Gizbot.com. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
- ^ Ramachandran, Naman (14 October 2021). "Indian Streamer SonyLIV Launches in Canada with Family Saga 'Tabbar' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
- ^ Ramachandran, Naman (18 June 2021). "Indian Streamer SonyLIV Sets Global Expansion Plans With 40-Strong Slate (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
- ^ https://olympics.com/en/news/asian-games-hangzhou-preview-schedule--how-to-watch-live [bare URL]
- ^ a b "Sony Pictures Networks India to air US Open in India through 2024".
- ^ "Sony to shift Animax channel to SonyLiv". Indian Television Dot Com. 13 April 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
- ^ "Animax Asia Channel Removed from 'Sony LIV' Streaming App". Animenewsnetwork.com. 17 May 2020.
- ^ "Cricket Archives PSL 2021 Live Streaming & TV Channels, Pakistan Super League 2021". Cricketzine.com. 31 January 2021.
- ^ "2017: The year OTTs went regional in India". Indian Television Dot Com. 4 January 2018.
- ^ "SonyLIV". Sonyliv.com. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". sonyliv.com. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
- ^ "Sony to move its video streaming service SonyLIV to a fee-based model". 11 September 2015. Archived from the original on 3 September 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
- ^ "SonyLIV Fixes Flaw That Could Allow Attackers to Fetch User Information". NDTV Gadgets 360. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
