PLDT Home partners with Lionsgate Play

BROADBAND service provider PLDT Home sealed an exclusive partnership with streaming platform Lionsgate Play which gives subscribers access to the entertainment company’s titles, including the blockbuster film franchises The Hunger Games, Twilight Saga, John Wick, and Saw, and the television series Mad Men.

By subscribing to a PLDT Home Fiber Plan, users can access and watch Lionsgate Play’s action, comedy, drama, horror, and thriller titles.

The Philippines is the fourth country in the Asia-Pacific region that Lionsgate Play has entered. It first launched in India in 2020 and then in Indonesia and Malaysia last year.

“Beyond PLDT-powered homes, Lionsgate Play shall also be available to Smart customers soon,” Jeremiah de la Cruz, PLDT Home Senior Vice-President and Head of Consumer Business-Home Group, said in a statement.

“[It] is really important that we continue to expand out all the different types of content choices, entertainment choices…” Mr. De La Cruz told members of the press at the launch on June 11 at Manila House VIP Club in Pasay City. “Our endeavor has been to ensure viewers are provided with a curated lineup of great content, spread across genres for the best viewing experience,” Lionsgate Executive Vice-President Amit Dhanuka said of the partnership.

Lionsgate Play Philippines General Manager Ma. Cecilia Marino said that the streaming platform offers “premium Hollywood content” due to its high budget productions that cater to “urban millennials,” she said.

Lionsgate has over 17,000 titles in their library. The streaming platform promises viewers they will “play more, browse less.”

THE TITLESLionsgate Play’s banner content includes American crime drama Power. Executive produced by rapper and actor Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, the show follows drug dealer James St. Patrick (played by Omari Hardwick) as he tries to leave his life of crime behind to manage his own nightclub. Another highlighted film is the futuristic action movie Apex, starring Bruce Willis as a falsely convicted prisoner given a chance at freedom.

“A lot of critics describe our programs as being provocative, thought-provoking, sensational, quirky. It’s surprising,” Ms. Marino said in her speech during the launch. “But to us, when you watch our films, what we take most pride in is we create stories that have a unique perspective.”

Now available locally through the platform is Gaslit, starring Julia Roberts and Sean Penn. The new series centers on the story of Martha Mitchell (Ms. Roberts), wife of former US President Nixon’s Attorney General John N. Mitchell. Ms. Mitchell discovers the full extent of the Watergate scandal in the 1970s and was the first to call out Nixon’s involvement in the scandal. 

“We shine on lesser told stories. In the past most of the time, other film outfits concentrated on President Nixon and the journalists who covered the scandal. With us, we focused on the housewife, Martha Mitchell,” Ms. Marino said.

Lionsgate Play also gives PLDT Home subscribers the first access to the historical drama Becoming Elizabeth on June 17, one week after the show’s United States release. The show chronicles Queen Elizabeth I of England’s rise to power and all the intrigue and betrayal that came with becoming queen.

“We carefully select those programs that we think can capture your interest,” Ms. Marino said.

Also available are the films in the The Hunger Games, John Wick, the Twilight Saga, and SAW franchises, and the all-star whodunit Knives Out which follows a detective (Daniel Craig) in his investigation of the mysterious death of a wealthy novelist (Christopher Plummer).
Existing and new subscribers of PLDT Home Fiber Plans 1699 and up will be given exclusive access to Lionsgate Play without the additional charges until June 1, 2023.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.

For more information, visit https://pldthome.com/lionsgateplay. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman