There was a bit of buzz a couple of days ago about MobiTV raising another $30 million in capital, adding to it’s already whopping $70 million from previous financings. That’s a lot of money for a startup that lets some people watch a few TV shows on their cell phones. It’s effectively a cable television service that only does business with people who have 2 inch TVs, and journalists like Mathew Ingram are openly questioning why MobiTV needs this money.
But there may be more to it than that. The entire TV world is being turned upside down. And I’m wondering if MobiTV has a major announcement to make in the near future.
YouTube set a price point for a service allowing consumers to watch TV clips online. Most popular TV shows are now available for legal download at iTunes, and Apples’ upcoming iTV device will allow consumers to watch those shows on their normal televisions. A ton of startups are trying to conquer online TV by starting niche. The networks all have their own online products. Even the online TV guide space is hot, and investments are pouring in.
I think the real win isn’t to distribute TV over mobile devices - that’s a niche service that isn’t likely to morph into a massive consumer market. But giving people TV over the Internet generally, where they can consume it on a normal television, a PC and/or a mobile device? That’s a killer product. We’re tracking two startups, The Venice Project and TIOTI, who are addressing this. But no one besides MobiTV has an existing, battle-tested platform, with distibution deals and relationships already in place. That is a large competitive advantage.
MobiTV has a little know product that allows users to watch TV on computer without a tuner (or “cheating” via slingbox or Orb). You can watch 24 channels on a PC, but only if you are accessing the Internet from an AT&T Wi-Fi hot spot. Thats a product of little use. But if MobiTV can negotiate with the cable companies and networks to expand the service and let people watch those shows from any broadband connection, they have a disruptive product on their hands.
So what’s the $100 million for? Maybe its to pay off the people who need to be paid off. They have a big valuation now, and giving stock away is an option. This is how Netflix was able to create a new type of movie rental market (by giving studios stock), and YouTube did something similar. If the incuments see the writing on the wall, knowing their days are numbered, they’ll take the profitable route to inevitability.
Another definete winning point for MobiTV is that Adobe Systems gave out chunk of money for MobiTV which is another competitive advantage. With Adobe being the keeping YouTube and Google Video alive, I’m sure Adobe will do their part in ensuring that they provide Flash technology for MobiTV wireless services at a low-cost.
Trying to make a statement with that low quality jpeg?
Collin - heh. No, I actually played with the image quite a bit but that was the best I could do. Probably should have made it a smaller image. I’ll get the TechCrunch Image Enhancement Team on it first thing in the morning.
I don’t think the technology or market is ready to embrace mobile TV. I hope they milk that money.
Wow, I didn’t notice how many grammar mistakes I had in the first comment. Should actually say:
Another competitive advantage for MobiTV is that Adobe Systems gave out a chunk of money for MobiTV’s success. With Adobe being the one that is keeping YouTube and Google Video alive, I’m sure Adobe will do their part in ensuring that they provide Flash technology for MobiTV wireless services at a low-cost.
I already get all kinds of cable TV on my computer via the likes of Slingbox and Orb without a monthly fee. Why should I pay for the same content multiple times?
Uh, 100 Million - is alot of money. Ya know it seems that the business model is now probably to start a start-up. Get round A funding, prove a little success (becoming less and less necessary) then Get major 2+ million in funding.
- the Ceo’s never have to work again! , They can retire…
I do hope their is some safe guards in place where the founders / CEO or whoever is the ‘owner’ can’t walk away with his share; he shouldn’t be vested until some goals have been reached…
- This is proof of the bubble; its getting bigger everyday -
Slingbox will kill them if the cable companies dont perform the massacre themselves. Slingbox has proven that getting tv on to your phone is not that difficult. Enjoy the 100m.
Mike, while I think you are partially correct that the convergence of TV across all devices (traditional TV, PCs, and mobile devices) is a win in the IPTV race, I think you may be missing the bigger story.
The promise of IPTV is not to create a more convenient television experience, it is to completely redefine what television is. IPTV can finally “democratize the airwaves” by leveling the play-field between the established media networks and user-generated channels.
For example, emerging services like SplashCast (http://www.splashcast.net) will enable anyone to create their own media channel, syndicating content they’ve either created or aggregated to any web site. With IPTV, the reach will expand from web sites to television sets. As a TV viewer, you will be able to flip between NBC Nightly News, the Techcrunch channel (to watch the daily vodcast), the Justin Timberlake channel (to get footage of him eating breakfast IHOP — paid for by IHOP), the Barack Obama channel (to get the latest scoop on his presidential ambitions), and your brother’s channel (where your 4-year-old nephew is the star).
Mobi already has competition from vdc.com and a whole new model of free distribution at whooda.com. Both have contract with content providers, with many more coming in the next few weeks. They provide better service, higher resolution (bigger streams) to cell phones, PCs, etc. and they spent about $99 million less than mobi, which is an inferior product. Go figure.
I just don’t see where MobiTV is providing much of value when most mobile phones now in the pipeline directly support formats like MP3, MPEG 4, and 3GPP, and since content providers can easily stream direct to end users, without going through a middleman like MobiTV. Getting basic cable and Muzak ™ on my phone for an extra $10-20 per month just seems like a non-starter to me.
Who the hell does Ingram think he is questioning why MobiTV and its investors are funding it in the manner they wish.? Is he some overlord or techno-scold who must pass judgement before actions such as these are deemed “smart” or in the “best interest of the community?”
On the one hand, $100m is amazing. On the other, this is a space every VC etc. and lots of corporate investors want to invest in (video, also mobile). Where there is capital to deploy, it will flow to the place of least resistance . . .
i agree with what dave zatz said (and not just cos i work at orb) - ESPECIALLY since the very notion of “TV” has been exploded, the idea of doing yet another old broadcast-model play with new tools seems… outdated
we see the world as already being vectored towards a “mycasting” model, which subsumes traditional broadcasting AND new stuff like youtube videos into one set of MY MEDIA that i can get anywhere
when i can already get all that via my EXISTING investments in mobile data, in the content i bring into my home, etc. why will i pay an additional mobile-specific fee to get the content i want on mobile?
if i couldn’t get that content in any other way, however - say, WEEI gameday audio for a Sox game or TV content that’s not available at home or on the PC web - then that’s a special fee for special content; what mobiTV is doing with AT&T is probably more interesting than the mobile-broadcast work that’s the core of their CURRENT biz; the question is whether there’s a sustainable role for a generalized content intermediary in an IPTV world…
i went to their website; and, well, its sucks…and i was totally surprised..b/c they’re a media/tv company. I mean suck in that it wouldn’t load properly…and was extremely slow.
“IPTV can finally “democratize the airwaves” by leveling the play-field between the established media networks and user-generated channels.”
You’re dead on with this one. I give it 6 to 7 years max before we start to see some revolutionary shit coming to TVs everywhere.
What thrills me the most is the fact that most content over the internet isn’t edited for cussing, nudity, sexual content, etc. I could totally see myself sitting on sitting on the couch watching something totally ridiculous going on just around the corner from my house.
>>You can watch 24 channels on a PC, but only if you are accessing the Internet from an AT&T Wi-Fi hot spot. Thats a product of little use.>>>
*ACTUALLY* the AT&T Broadband TV product is available from any broadband connection, not just WiFi as Michael says.
Also in terms of the “holy grail” of TV services, that being a 3-screen solution, it seems MobiTV has already deployed it’s mobile service on Cingular (about to become AT&T again) and on the PC platform with AT&T. Pretty cool.
“Internet” plus “TV” does not equal “Internet TV.”
A large part of the “viewing” experience has nothing to do with viewing, per se. It has to do with the environment in which viewing takes place, the social setting, the camaraderie or tension among the viewers, what the viewers were doing before viewing, what they’re doing while viewing, what they expect to be doing next, and range of factors that are even more global.
When you liberate the viewing experience from the living room or the bar, and make it transportable — not just physically, but also experientially — and then you add interaction, you are dealing with a largely new phenomenon. “TV” just doesn’t cover it.
Techies tend to focus on the technicalities of providing liberated, interactive viewing experiences. Good conversation. An equally challenging and perhaps more informative conversation, in terms of its consequences, would be to talk about what people will experience in this new audio-visual environment, how they’ll use it, and how they’ll be reshaped by it, individually and collectively.
Oh, there’s no SocialCrunch? Too bad. C’mon over to Total Experience, on Corante.com, sometime.
^ to me this is a given. the big question of course is what all of us will do with this. the user is an important component but people can be led - business is already pointing us in a bunch of directions, driving adoption, use, etc., i don’t anticipate this will change much as internet tv develops and big players continue to come into the picture.
There seems to be a lot of wrongly directed interest in video over the Internet when video is a small component of the overall multimedia and next generation communications revolution. You need to look at the big picture and see what Nokia and Ericsson are doing as well as Enea. The coming 3GSM show in Barcelona should be very exciting as the potential of the “always connected” world becomes closer to an affordable reality.
WOW - check out http://www.viewmy.tv , its got Free AlJazeera in English !!!!!!!!