By Arun Kumar
IANS
Washington : Saavn, a New York-based media company offering South Asian content, has joined hands with Joost, a broadcast-quality internet television service, to make hit Bollywood music and movies more accessible to fans in America.
Bollywood has danced its way into American pop culture over the past year, frequently popping up in American movies, television programmes, and commercials. At the same time, Bollywood music is becoming more and more popular. But until now, Bollywood music mostly has been available in neighbourhood Indian shops or through clips of music videos found sporadically on the web.
Together, Saavn and Joost are changing that, Saavn, a web community and social network that brings people together based on a common interest – South Asian content – said in announcing the deal with Joost. Its fare includes Bollywood and other South Asian films, music, television, sports and events.
Joost will serve the rapidly growing market for Bollywood movies and music by providing programming from Saavn's vast library on the platform. With the Saavn content being available on Joost, music fans can enjoy Bollywood music on their own schedules and watch rare music videos in their entirety, it said.
Joost users will be able to watch movies with some of Bollywood's most famous stars, and many of the most popular Bollywood songs, such as "Dil Na Diya," "Aankhon Ki Gustakhiyan" and "Jhalak Dikhla Ja" will also be on Joost.
"The user experience with Joost is far more advanced than with any other company in its arena," said Vin Bhat, co-founder and General Manager of Saavn.
"Their approach to video distribution takes full advantage of the nature of the Internet and also provides a secure environment for professionally produced content. This is just the beginning – Bollywood fans around the world will be taking many work breaks once they see how easy and fun this new service is."
Founded by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström, Joost claims to be the first online, global TV distribution platform, bringing together advertisers, content owners and viewers in an interactive, community-driven environment.
Yvette Alberdingk Thijm, executive vice president, content strategy and acquisition, said, "There is a growing appetite for Bollywood films and music around the world, but until now, there hasn't been widespread access to great Bollywood programming.
"As a global distribution platform, Joost is a destination where people connect over their favourite programming, and our partnership with Saavn demonstrates the range and depth of the programming on Joost."