China’s Letv inks deals with TCL Multimedia and Digital Domain in Hong Kong to shore up hardware and content portfolios

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LeTV's chief executive for Asia-Pacific Mok Chui-tin spoke in October of the company’s plan to invest up to HK$6 million in the Hong Kong market over the next three years. Photo: May Tse

Published: 8:16pm, 18 Dec 2015Updated: 8:16pm, 18 Dec 2015

Chinese online video-streaming giant Letv has set out on an ambitious plan to build up its hardware capabilities and content portfolio in separate deals with Hong Kong-listed companies TCL Multimedia Technology and Digital Domain Holdings.

Letv has agreed to acquire 20 per cent of TCL Multimedia for HK$2.27 billion (US$293 million), making it the second-largest shareholder of one of the world’s largest television manufacturers.

Beijing-based Letv also signed a term sheet to explore a proposed joint venture with Digital Domain, operator of the world’s largest independent visual-effects companies, to develop and distribute immersive, 360-degree live sports events and virtual reality media content.

READ MORE: China’s LeTV inks deal with HKBN to deliver wealth of 4K and other online content to Hong Kong broadband users

Those two initiatives show how Letv continues to make a splash in Hong Kong since announcing in September that it had won the exclusive local broadcast rights for English Premier League football matches for three years, starting next season. That deal reportedly cost it more than US$400 million.

Mok Chui-tin, Letv’s chief executive for Asia-Pacific operations, said in October that the company plans to invest between HK$3 billion and HK$6 billion in the Hong Kong market over the next three years. The firm’s regional headquarters were established in the city in August last year.

Letv, through newly formed Hong Kong subsidiary Letv Zhixin, will subscribe to about 349 million new shares of TCL Multimedia at HK$6.50 per share.

Once the deal closes, Letv will nominate two directors in TCL Multimedia.

“The partnership with Letv is an important step in TCL Multimedia’s transition to the internet,” Li Dongsheng, the chairman at TCL Multimedia, said on Friday.

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