Don’t think MVPD-delivered cable channels are important to TV viewers anymore?
You better not tell that to Charlie Nooney, Chairman/CEO of Emeryville, Calif.-based MOBITV, the company behind an application-based Pay TV video delivery platform.
The East Bay IPTV pioneer has become the “first multi-tenant video delivery solutions provider to secure hosted streaming delivery rights for more than 210 major networks.”
This means MOBITV, which the company says is not a “skinny bundle” or “over the top” (OTT) offering but a managed service solution for pay-TV providers, now has access to such offerings as C-SPAN Networks, Disney and ESPN Media Networks, Fox Networks, Fuse Media Networks, Hallmark Channel, Game Show Network, NBCUniversal cable networks, Pac-12 Networks, REELZ, REVOLT, SHOWTIME, Outdoor Channel, The Weather Channel, and Viacom-owned networks.
More deals are set to close before the end of the quarter on June 30, and the company says these rights will enable its MOBITV CONNECT tool to help operators go to market faster “with a cost-effective model that doesn’t require material capital outlays or an upgrade to traditional headend infrastructure.”
MOBITV utilizes IPTV technology for the delivery of its service, with their customers Pay TV operators who want to make the transition to app-based television delivery and drop legacy STB hardware.
“Translation: The MobiTV Connect platform unlocks content from the traditional Set-Top Box (STB) experience for Pay TV providers, so they can deliver cable to hundreds of consumer devices including streaming boxes, connected TV devices, PCs, tablets, and mobile phones,” a company spokesperson explains. AppleTV, Roku, mobile devices, and computers are also connected, bringing live TV to a multitude of devices beyond the TV.
“The content community has demonstrated tremendous support for the MOBITV managed service and the operators that will soon deploy it,” Nooney said. “They recognize that the platform provides viewers a superior overall experience and allows operators the ability to maintain a competitive edge in the market in a cost-effective manner to their pay TV and broadband subscriber base. We are very pleased to provide this industry-first solution, strengthening our role as a leading TV as a Service (TVaaS) provider.”
There is no launch date set for MOBITV CONNECT, but it is expected to be offered to MVPDs very soon.
“With secured streaming delivery rights from large media brands, MOBITV is now authorized to ingest content once and deliver it in an app-based framework to multiple operators,” the company spokesperson says. “The platform is turn key and can be deployed within 90 days.”
Viacom SVP/Partnerships, Distribution and Business Development Sheri Weidner has endorsed the MOBITV platform.
“Viacom is committed to providing creative and effective solutions for distributors of all sizes,” she said. “The MobiTV platform gives our affiliates access to a top-flight multiplatform service customized to their unique channel lineup and subscriber packaging. We’re excited to be offering them this flexible and innovative solution.”
MOBITV has signed upward of 35 Pay TV providers to deploy its managed service this summer, accounting for a national footprint of more than 600,000 U.S. households. MOBITV did not close which MVPDs it is working with or if they are members of the American Cable Association (ACA).
In an exclusive interview with RBR+TVBR, a MOBITV representative explained the concept of “multitenancy” as an approach software providers use so that a single instance of software runs in the cloud, and that single instance serves multiple customers. “Therefore, MobiTV’s managed service will use this approach to make them first app-based Pay TV solutions provider capable of hosting more than one cable operator through a single feed and providing them with content from 210 major networks without a need for them to invest in the expense of obtaining those rights themselves or upgrading their equipment in order to provide and host the content,” the company representative says.
Meanwhile, MOBITV confirms that their target market is cable operators of all sizes who don’t have the means to invest in upgrading their headend or developing their own apps in order to provide streaming, app-based television to their subscribers.
“The significance here is that the cable industry is really open to change and the content industry is in full support,” the MOBITV representative adds. “They don’t want cable to go away, as OTT solutions and streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu come in. Cable operators want to reinvent themselves and MOBITV is helping them do that, in order to give consumers what they want, which is content that is accessible via streaming on devices they already own, such as mobile phones, tablets, smart TV, and OTT devices.”
