Operated by Starz, Lionsgate Play was first made available in India late last year. Its availability was then expanded to Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and the Philippines before our market. Since Lionsgate Play Malaysia’s website and mobile apps are not yet available to local consumers, it is hard to determine the true strength of the service’s catalogue for the time being. Based on early information that was released to the press, the service seems to revolve around Hollywood blockbusters, film franchises, and TV series; at least during the initial stage of its rollout in Malaysia. Among listed contents include The Hunger Games, The Twilight Saga, Now You See Me, The Aviator, Babel, and Remember Me alongside series such as Weeds, Power, Made Men, and The Spanish Princess. In India, the service is already working on original content too although it is not known whether Starz has similar plans for Malaysia. In terms of pricing, Lionsgate Play Malaysia costs RM 19.90 per month although unifi users can obtain it for slightly less at RM 14.90 per month. On another hand, unifi TV’s Ultimate Pack subscribers are to obtain free access to it as part of their package starting from 1 October. On paper, it seems like a wise move by Starz to partner with TM to launch the service in Malaysia. This is because Lionsgate Play is not exactly a well-known name among Malaysian consumers even against services that are present in Malaysia such as Hulu and HBO Max. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether Lionsgate Play is able to cut through the streaming market in Malaysia which is currently being dominated by the likes of Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, viu, iQiYi, and TVBAnywhere. (Source: Variety, unifi TV.)
