Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba Grouip is getting into online streaming video, readying a Netflix-type service in the country, according to multiple reports. The news comes as Netflix is trying to figure out its own entry into China.
Alibaba’s head of digital entertainment reportedly said on Sunday that the company will launch the service, called TBO (Tmall Box Office) in two months, utilizing content purchased fro China and other countries and its own productions. Via Reuters:
“Our mission, the mission of all of Alibaba, is to redefine home entertainment,” said Liu. “Our goal is to become like HBO in the United States, to become like Netflix in the United States.”
It was not immediately clear how the service would fit with Youku Tudou Inc (YOKU.N), one of China’s biggest video streaming platforms in which Alibaba bought a 16.5 percent stake last year.
It’s unclear if Alibaba plans to take the service outside of China in countries like the U.S. where its stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange. Last week, founder Jack Ma spoke in the U.S. about how the company wants to help small businesses reach the growing Chinese consumer market.
Netflix will launch in three more countries this October. The company previously expressed its goal to complete its global expansion by 2017.
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