Mobile video-on-demand service nexGTv has bagged the exclusive mobile and digital rights to stream the French Open 2015. Tennis fans can now stream 128 singles matches and 64 doubles matches on mobile handsets, tablets and PCs for free through the app. Exclusive rights to stream a sports event is emerging as a key differentiator for different video-on-demand services and is helping push up app installs and ratings. In an earlier conversation with MediaNama, G.D. Singh director and CEO of Digivive, the parent company of nexGTv said that the company was also looking to partner with other companies to get exclusive content, "If you go to the Android Store, after Hotstar, we are the next in terms of downloads and ratings. Of course, Hotstar is number one despite being launched later because of the Indian Premier League and the T20 World Cup. And they have exclusive rights and not giving it to anyone else. But last year and the year before last we had rights for the IPL and we were number one on the app store." It's no wonder that Star is betting big on sports in India and plans to invest Rs 20,000 crore to expand its sports coverage in the country. During this year's T20 World Cup, Star India's app Hotstar saw 10 million downloads in 40 days. Star, which also owned the mobile and Internet rights for the Indian Premier League, saw 7.2 million video views on the mobile app during the first match. In 2013, nexGTv partnered with Times Internet to secure the official mobile streaming rights…
