SingTel inks pay-TV content pact with 3 U.S. studios

SINGAPORE, July 23 (Reuters) - SingTel (STEL.SI) said on Wednesday it had inked a deal with three Hollywood studios to allow its pay-TV subscribers to watch the latest TV series as early as 24 hours after they had been telecast in the United States.

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SGT.AX), Southeast Asia's biggest telecom firm, said it had signed content agreements with Disney-ABC International Television, the international TV distribution arm of Walt Disney Co (DIS.N), News Corp NWSa.N unit Twentieth Century Fox and Time Warner Inc's (TWX.N) Warner Bros. International Television.

Last July, state-controlled SingTel (SGT.AX) launched its pay-TV service -- mio TV -- to compete with the highly lucrative monopoly of its rival StarHub Ltd (STAR.SI).

SingTel's mio TV offers 50 channels now, up from 20 at launch. It has about 45,000 subscribers, compared with StarHub's 508,000 users.

SingTel's on-demand service, dubbed Season Pass, will launch in September, and offer the latest episodes from popular series like Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Prison Break, Ugly Betty and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

"We think this is a very significant acquisition of content for us, and we are optimistic about the take-up rates that we will get as a result of this deal," SingTel's Singapore Chief Executive Allen Lew told a news briefing.

Lew declined to disclose pricing details for the new service until closer to the date of launch, citing competitive reasons.

He also declined to comment on how much SingTel had spent on acquiring content for its pay-TV business, or when the unit would break-even.

SingTel said such content deals would typically be exclusive for a period of five to six months. (Reporting by Jennifer Tan; Editing by Saeed Azhar) (jennifer.tan@thomsonreuters.com; +65-6403 5660; Reuters Messaging: jennifer.tan.reuters.com@reuters.net)