The telecommunications company TIM Brasil (Telecom Italia) has announced last December 2nd that it is planning to launch a new streaming platform in 2021. The initiative takes place after the arrival of Disney+ in Brazil and the rest of Latin America, as well as the launch of DirecTV GO, which was made available officially in Brazil last week.

‘We are analyzing this market, and it is one of the news we have for Q1 next year’, said Renato Ciuchini, VP, Head of Strategy & Transformation at TIM Brazil who explained during an event that the new launch is part of a strategy that the company is developing, with the aim of becoming a platform for digital products and services. Up to now, the executive has not reported further details on how the offer will be: whether access to the platform will be through a STB, such as the one recently launched in Brazil by Claro (America Movil); or if it will be offered as a D2C OTT, as is the case with DirecTV GO (AT&T).

At present, TIM’s offer in Brazil does not include pay TV or video services, although it has been running different agreements with streaming platforms to offer them bundled with other telecommunications services. Some of the OTTs included are EI Plus (Esporte Interativo Plus); YouTube Premium, HBO GO, Netflix and Cartoon Network App.

Apart from that, in September, the Brazilian telecommunications regulator Anatel officially reported that linear channels broadcasted via streaming are not considered a pay TV offer, but rather a value-added service. For this reason, they should be excluded from the rules established by the SeAC Law (No. 12,485, of 2011), which regulates pay TV offers in Brazil.