If you’ve always wanted to download Nollywood movies, TV series, etc

If you’ve always wanted to download Nollywood movies, TV series, etc and watch them later offline, today’s announcement from iROKOtv should make you smile as the online movie streaming service now lets you do so starting from today.

Of course, this isn’t a novel idea in the VOD space. Yet, it is a significant move by iROKOtv considering that it has always marketing itself as a streaming-only platform. It is unclear why iROKOtv is going this route at this time, but it is likely that the move is an answer to Multichoice’s VOD service, DStv CatchUp which launched in January 2014, which allows its premium subscribers to stream or download over 350 titles of series, movies and sport highlights on their iPhones and iPads.

iROKOtv founder and CEO, Jason Njoku had earlier acknowledged that Multichoice and its Pay-TV channel, DStv are his company’s major competition, so it’s not surprising to see iROKOtv launch services or features that could match those of its rival.

With the recent movie download feature, which includes Nigerian movies and TV series such as 30 Days in Atlanta, Love Regardless, Family Album, Festac Town, Poisoned Bait, Losing Control as well as Telenovelas, Bollywood and Hollywood movies, iROKOtv appears to have raised the stakes higher for other VOD services in Africa.

But most importantly, the company has launched a major price war against its rival, Multichoice by offering all of its content at a very affordable subscription rate (Internet access cost exclusive) when compared to DStv’s subscription rates.

That, coupled with the fact that most of the latest movie releases are only available online on its platform, makes iROKOtv a viable and formidable player in the African entertainment space.