The Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) has issued the first niche subscription TV licence to VeeV Interactive (VeeV), as part of effort to expand the IPTV services here.

The five-year licence will allow VeeV, a wholly-owed subsidiary of Sky Media, to offer a broad range of programmes, including scheduled and on-demand TV services, over any delivery platform for up to 100,000 subscribers in Singapore.

With its niche TV licence, VeeV plans to roll out a commercial Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service focusing on educational content.

Using Singapore as its research and development centre, VeeV also has plans to expand its digital media business into the region.

The niche subscription TV licence is part of the two-tier licence framework MDA introduced in 2007 to facilitate the growth of IPTV services here by offering operators greater flexibility to roll out services for different market segments.

The other licence category is the nationwide subscription TV licence, which caters to operators targeting the mass market. The first nationwide IPTV licence was awarded to SingNet in January 2007 for its mioTV service.

'MDA is pleased that our pro-business regulatory framework has helped pave the way for new IPTV service providers to enter the market with innovative and diverse programming content. We hope to see more IPTV service providers use Singapore as a launch pad to regionalise their business and test-bed new IPTV technologies and solutions,' said Ms Ling Pek Ling, MDA's Director of Media Policy on Thursday.