Indian general entertainment, video on demand service
SonyLIV is an Indian over-the-top freemium streaming platform owned by Culver Max Entertainment. SonyLIV was introduced in 2013[2] as the first OTT service in India.[3] As a streaming service, it is carrying content from its local networks, including films, television series, live sports matches and original programming, and also featuring content licensed from third-parties in India such as Lionsgate and ITV among others. Since 2020, SonyLIV has taken more of an active role as producer and distributor for both films and television series, and to that end, offers a variety of original programming content through its online library.
History
SonyLIV was launched on 23 January 2013,[4] by Culver Max Entertainment.
SonyLIV has access to 18 years of content from channels that are part of Culver Max Entertainment 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, SonyLIV has streamed live sports events.
Anime was part of SonyLIV. Varieties of anime original from Animax were available on SonyLIV to stream. After shutting down a linear TV channel on 18 April 2017, Animax[5] was made available exclusively as a digital streaming channel in India from 7 July 2017 to 7 May 2020.[6]
In June 2020, SonyLIV was launched as a streaming service in the United States on Sling TV, with all the shows available in India available on the app.[7][8]
SonyLIV was launched in Canada on 15 October 2021.
LIV Sports
LIV Sports was launched on 1 June 2014 by Culver Max Entertainment[9] (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.[10] However, this service was integrated into SonyLIV. As for now, LIV Sports is part of SonyLIV.
SonyLIV first revamp (2016)
SonyLIV logo from 2016 to 2020
In June 2016, SonyLIV underwent a revamp for the first time and started to stream live television channels. Since this revamp, SonyLIV has added many shows and movies to the portfolio.
On 1 November 2018, SonyLIV and Lionsgate had entered into a multi-year content[11] deal. As part of the deal, SonyLIV will offer an embedded Lionsgate Play with over 500 hours of premium original series. In 2019, SonyLIV started to stream live channels of other networks, including news channels.
SonyLIV second revamp (2020)
SonyLIV logo from 2020 to present
In June 2020, SonyLIV 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, SonyLIV started to stream its own original movies and series.
On 15 January 2021, WWE Network[12] was launched in India through SonyLIV.
Overview
SonyLIV is the first Indian over-the-top 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.
Programming
SonyLIV'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.
After Sony Pictures Networks India's acquisition of Ten Sports Network, all TEN Sports live programs also began broadcasting on SonyLIV. Since then, SonyLIV is streaming WWE Raw, WWE SmackDown and other WWE pay-per-view events, and UFC. SonyLIV also streamed cricket matches played by Pakistan,[13] Australia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies and Zimbabwe, and Grand Prix motorcycle racing.
SonyLIV also streamed NBA until early 2021.
Genres
SonyLIV features programming in the following key genres: comedy, crime, drama, horror and action.[14]
Live channels
SonyLIV also live streams its own channels in its network on the platform.[4]
SonyLIV Originals
SonyLIV has streamed a number of original streaming television series. The first-ever original was a Gujarati web series titled Kacho Papad Pako Papad[15] and it is streaming since 2017.
SonyLIV underwent a revamp in its appearance in June 2020.[16] Since then, SonyLIV provides their original shows in 5–7 languages. Without Hindi, SonyLIV releases originals in the other languages after 1–2 weeks from the release date.
Rocket Boys, Scam 1992, The Big Bong Connection, Your Honor and Avrodh: The Siege Within are some well-known SonyLIV original shows.
Availability
SonyLIV is available in India, Pakistan, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, China, Taiwan, Australia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Canada. It’s also available in the United States via Sling TV.
Viewership
SonyLIV has reached about 25 million views on a monthly basis on its website, app and YouTube channel.[17]
SonyLIV security flaw
On 20 December 2019, Bengaluru-based security researcher Ehraz Ahmed discovered a security flaw in the SonyLIV 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.[18]
32.7 million (paid)[1]
