Lovefilm rival Wuaki.tv launches in UK from £2.99 a month

New streaming service hopes to attract consumers with hybrid model of subscriptions and on-demand titles

Wuaki.tv is a streaming service set to rival Netflix and Lovefilm

Wuaki.tv, a streaming service that’s competing with the likes of Netflix and Lovefilm, is launching in the UK from £2.99 a month. The new service offers a hybrid of subscriptions and on-demand options to watch the latest film and TV.

Owned by Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten, the service first launched in Spain where it currently has 600,000 subscribers. To accompany this expansion abroad the service is offering a limited-time offer to buy Wuaki Plus for £2.99 a month (something that normally costs £5.99). The offer is available for the first 75,000 subscribers or until 13 September – whichever comes first.

Like its rivals Wuaki will be offering content from the likes of Warner Bros, Sony, Fox, the BBC, and Disney. On-demand films currently advertised on the service’s website include Oz the Great and Powerful, Cloud Atlas and Lincoln.

Although only currently available for desktops and latops, there are plans to roll out “support for games consoles, smartTVs and tablets […] over the summer”.

The service will be entering into a crowded market, but British consumers have proved enthusiastic adopters of stream, on-demand video services. The opening subscription offer is designed to directly undercut the completion – with Netflix’s services starting from £5.99 a month, and Lovefilm charging £4.99.

“Streaming services have grown significantly in the UK, and we see a huge gap to offer a hybrid of the traditional subscription and a la carte models,” said Wuaki’s CEO Jacinto Roca. “Our Wuaki Plus subscription offers a quality service at an attractive monthly rate.”

“However, we know many people also want to rent or buy the very latest new releases, which are usually not available on subscription streaming services immediately, and others simply prefer to have on-demand on an a la carte basis. With Wuaki users can have both, and pick-and-choose what they want, when they want.”