RadixTV hopes to launch a new online business TV service available only to subscribers at financial institutions.
The service includes CNBC, CNBC World, Bloomberg and MSNBC. It hopes to expand the service, which now costs $14.99 a month, to 10 channels, including France 24, Fox News, CNN, Al Jazeera and the BBC. In RadixTV Web TV Service
Viewers have to work at a financial institution, or at least say they are brokers, accountants or analysts, in order to get access.
In principle, the concept is similar to the business-to-business services cable operators have sold for decades to bars and other retail establishments, or hotels. In this case, the intended display device is a desktop PC, not a TV, but the concept is similar. The service does not cannibalize the consumer subscription business.
But some think wider applications will emerge. “With security around the internet and cloud computing you really don’t need a set-top box anymore, and over the next few year there will be more and more services that compete with traditional cable and satellite companies,” said Bernard Gershon, former head digital distribution at The Walt Disney Company and now a media consultant.