The Chilean Culture, Art and Heritage Ministry officially reported that, during the quarantine established in the country to stop the advance of Covid-19 (Coronavirus), access to the OTT Ondamedia content catalog is free. In addition to the web, contents are also available in a recently launched application for mobile devices with iOS and Android, which allows users to play movies on smart TVs via Chromecast.
As the Chilean entity officially reported, the Ondamedia catalog records more than 1,500 audiovisual contents available, including 210 films and 97 documentaries with the most awarded productions of Chilean cinema; 250 short films and more than 600 science and humanities conferences for more than 150 thousand users.
The Chilean Culture Minister, Consuelo Valdes, reported that, since March 19th, the system of eight monthly tickets through which users had access to view eight productions choosen by them per month, was replaced by unlimited access to the available titles. ‘We wanted to guarantee unlimited access to the films in the Ondamedia catalog, so that citizens can stay safe in their homes with contents related to art and culture. This, in addition, will have a direct benefit on the audiovisual market, because, for each reproduction, owners of each production gets an amount of money, which will increase with the number of visits and reproductions’, she explained.
Regarding the official launch of the mobile application, Valdes reported that ‘with this initiative we are bringing these contents even closer to boys, girls, young people and adults, who will also be able to access the weekly premieres that we have planned’. In addition, she reported that ‘work is being done on the inclusion of inclusive subtitles, which will allow access to deaf people, in addition to a large number of older adults who suffer from hearing loss’. Currently, 20 contents already have subtitles incorporated, specifically in the item of the most accessed movies in the catalog. During the year, 80 more subtitles will be added.
In addition to viewing the content, the application allows users to play movies on a smartTV via Chromecast. Work is also in progress on the development of native applications that will allow to access to Ondamedia directly from the TV menu, through the remote control. The application allows to download the titles, and then reproduce them without using the mobile data of the cell phone.