Zillion TV is a very exciting IPTV initiative. It might assuage cable companies, but is it a viable reaction to the online consumer shift?
We seem to be hearing alot about Zillion TV these days — so whats all the hype about? For those of you attending MipTV this year in Cannes, you can see them speaking on one of the panels (download full schedule here) and sponsor the opening night party. In the meantime, below we aggregate the latest details.
Zillion TV, a company based in Sunnyvale California, is a new video service which allows users to access tv content and movies on demand online, via a set top box called the ZBar (remember Akimbo? Same idea). It will be available only through partner broadband service providers (min speed 2.7Mbps), subject to an initial activation fee. Zillion TV will sell its boxes only through ISPs, 16 of which they have apparently already signed with (servicing a total of 10 million homes). The start-up says it will help cable companies respond and take control of a new digital audience.
Mitch Berman, Zillion’s founder and a former executive at cable television technology firms OpenTV and C-COR says, “ZillionTV is building a new television ecosystem grounded in partnerships”. The company is well funded and fully staffed, having signed content deals with five of the major movie studios including: NBC Universal, Disney, 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers and Sony Pictures. Main content partners have apparently taken equity stakes in the business, and this is a huge advantage of the new market player. There are currently 15,000 titles on the service, which is an impressive feat considering that Netflix (one year its senior) has 12,000.
Zillion TV is a pay-per-view/rent platform, similar to Apple TV, whereby users pay a one-time membership fee of $50. Their unique user interface will use a motion sensing remote control for navigation, and the company plans to roll out the service across the US this year.
All programming is streamed in standard definition, with HD coming soon. Through its motion sensor VUI, viewers will be able to browse by several categories including genre, actor, recommendation, most viewed, etc. Loyalty programmes will be implemented, whereby regular viewers are rewarded with additional free programmes.
The majority of the content will be advertising funded. Zillion TV will target ads based on user viewing habits, income and core demographic data. The company intends to share its advertising and membership revenue with cable operators, phone companies and content owners, hoping to assuage fears of cannabilizing viewership from broadcast to online.
In February this year, Zillion TV announced it had raised $4.01 million in first rounds, from Sierra Ventures and Concept Ventures. Visa, a partner and investor in the business, will spearhead its Tcommerce service. This will come in handy when they roll out transactional services that include purchasing products directly from the platform.
Competitors/Challenges: Netflix, Amazon ( $99 Roku), Apple TV and others are competing for market share. Comcast, Time Warner, AT&T, and Verizon also offer ISP and video services, and are concerned that competing services canabilize cable company subscription fees which currently account for 60% of yearly revenue. Comcast and Time Warner have both made their programming available online for Pay TV Subscribers (eg. Fancast).
Zillion TV sees itself as an unthreatening alternative to Hulu, Netflix, Boxee and Vudu, as it claims to offer cable companies an opportunity from the digital shift to online. Mr Berman adds argues that “The world we live in is confused, competitive and changing,” Berman says. “We can help companies that are getting dragged over the digital divide.” For another perspective, check out a blog about ‘Zillion Reasons why I am skeptical of Zillion TV” .
Chief engineer Mike Catalano said in a statement, “This is all about TV. This is not about bringing the internet into the television, this is more about providing a more entertaining television experience. We believe there is a fundamental difference between the ‘hunt and seek’ mode that people go to the internet in, and the passive/watching mode they’re in when they’re watching television….We’re literally building the largest content ingest system, for television, as far as we know, that has ever been built.”
What can set Zillion TV apart from its Microsoft and Apple counterparts is all in the content they aggregate, strategic deals they implement, and the management vision to spearhead amidst fierce competition. Given their current investment, content partners and marketing/PR activities they seemed well poised to succeed. They will surely be buzzing around making deals at MipTV, conducting meetings with ISPs and content owners across the board. We are excited to hear more about this project and meeting the players behind it in Cannes!
Key Players at Zillion TV attending Mip this year: Mitch BERMAN, CEO / Charles CATALDO, SVP Digital Entertainment / Elizabeth COWLEY, VP Content Acquisition & Business Development / David DOZORETZ, Chief Creative Officer / Liz DAVIDOFF, VP Global Marketing / Ellen DAVIDSON, Director Public Relations / Liz DU, Senior Marketing Manager / Christina FERREIRA, Director Business Development / Patrick GAUTHIER, SVP Product Marketing Strategy / Matt MCKEE, VP Content Acquisition & Business Development / Melissa SCHUMER, Executive Vice President / Bonnie STONE, SVP Advertising Sales / Peter REDFORD, Board Member / David SCHWAB, Board Chairman / Julien NGUYEN, Board Member )
Stay tuned to our blog, as we will be reporting all the gossip from this years conference.
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May 10th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
[...] specific web and / or mobile formats. This was supported by the launch of new platforms (e.g. Zillion TV) and the announcement of numerous digital content deals (Sony, Paramount… [...]