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Jan. 8, 2020 / 9:00 PM

Short-form video streaming service Quibi to launch in April

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CEO Meg Whitman addresses members of the media during the Quibi Keynote at the 2020 International CES, at the Park MGM Theatre in Las Vegas. Photo by James Atoa/UPI
CEO Meg Whitman addresses members of the media during the Quibi Keynote at the 2020 International CES, at the Park MGM Theatre in Las Vegas. Photo by James Atoa/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Executives for the upcoming streaming platform Quibi announced the price and other details about the service at CES on Wednesday.

Quibi, which is short for "quick bits" will provide short-form videos ranging from 4 minutes to 10 minutes when it launches on April 6 and will cost $4.99 per month with 2.5 minutes of ads or $7.99 per month for an ad-free version.

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"Today we are living through another revolution in entertainment, this time on our mobile phones," Quibi CEO Meg Whitman said. "Innovations in mobile technology and network capability mean that we now have billions of users watching billions of hours of content every day on their mobile phones."

Quibi has raised more than $1 billion in venture funding and has secured deals with Oscar-winning directors Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro and Steven Soderbergh, celebrities including Reese Witherspoon, Bill Murray and Chrissy Teigen as well as studios such as BBC, ESPN and NBC News to produce content including movies broken into smaller chapters, serialized shows and news reports.

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The platform plans to release 8,500 episodes in its first year and offer 3 hours of new content each day.

"Mobile phones are the most highly democratized platforms for entertainment we've ever seen," said founder Jeffrey Katzenberg. "As 5G ramps up network speed, consumers will watch even more."

Quibi has made deals with Google Cloud for its streaming technology and with T-Mobile, which will bundle the service in with plans for its subscribers.

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It has also signed on with 10 advertising partners for the launch including Procter & Gamble, Walmart, Pepsi, Google, Anheuser Busch and Progressive.

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Attendees take a closer look at the Mercedes-Benz Vision EQS concept vehicle. Photo by James Atoa/UPI | License Photo
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