Intertainer Asia (A) : programming and distributing Hollywood movies on-line in the Asia-Pacific countries

Abstract

In late 2002, Andrew Yap, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice Chairman of Intertainer Asia pondered over the future of his company. The idea of setting up this new company was mooted in 1998 when Andrew Yap and Greg Coote discussed the business of home video distribution. The new company licensed its basic video-on-demand (VOD) platform technology from Intertainer, Inc., the forerunner of VOD services based in Santa Monica, United States, but negotiated separate content deals directly with the studios.

Over the next two years, Intertainer Asia developed itself into a leading entertainment-on-demand-company, streaming Hollywood movies on-line to homes via a television or personal computer in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and later, in China, Australia, New Zealand and Korea. An unexpected event, however, occurred in October 2002. Intertainer, Inc. announced the suspension of its service in United States, after filing an anti-trust lawsuit against the studios. Although the service suspension did not affect the management and business operations of Intertainer Asia, it triggered some questions, which Andrew had to address.

This case was written to provide an understanding of the activities and linkages among players along the telecommunications value chain. It provides a rich context for students to analyse the market forces at work in the broadband industry. In addition, the case traces the start-up process of Intertainer Asia and documents how the two entrepreneurs identify, evaluate, and approach market opportunities, form opportunistic relationships in gaining access to critical resources, and bring together those resource components necessary to set up this business. Period covered 1998 – 2003