Personalized Television Service Reinforces Commitment to ISP Partners; Introduces Supplemental Distribution Approach with Direct-to-Consumer Pilot and Embed Strategy
SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ZillionTV, a first-of-its-kind personalized television service, announced today an expanded distribution strategy that includes a primary focus on continued partnerships with Internet Service Providers as well as pilot trials of a direct-to-consumer offering and a focused effort to embed the ZillionTV™ Service in consumer electronics devices.
Since the Company unveiling in March 2009, ZillionTV has conducted closed market field trials and will continue to pursue partnerships with its primary distribution channel of Internet Service Providers, focusing efforts specifically on Communications Service Providers (CSPs). At the same time, as broadband penetration in U.S. households continues to climb with North American broadband households expected to reach more than 85 million by 2010*, and more consumers have access to Internet speeds of three mbps or greater, it has become important for ZillionTV to test a direct-to-consumer offering in areas where ZillionTV is not available through a CSP partner. This pilot test is scheduled to commence in Q4 2009 in select markets.
According to research from The Diffusion Group**, close to 54 million North American households will own at least one Internet-enabled TV platform by the end of 2009, a number that will grow to close to 100 million by 2014. As a third approach to home distribution, ZillionTV will work closely with CE manufacturers to integrate the ZillionTV Service within new Internet-enabled video platforms such as television and gaming consoles.
“We’ve been watching the industry carefully and closely monitoring trends to evaluate our distribution strategy. We wholeheartedly believe that partnering with ISPs is the best strategy and remains our primary distribution path,” said Mitchell Berman, CEO, ZillionTV Corporation. “However, our goal is to offer access to the ZillionTV Service to all consumers. As household penetration of stronger broadband Internet connections climbs and ISP infrastructures are increasingly better equipped to handle new services over their pipes, we are now considering offering the ZillionTV Service directly to interested viewers in areas not reached by our CSP partners. We’re also rapidly moving forward with efforts to embed the ZillionTV Service in an assortment of consumer electronics devices as industry statistics point to embedded services as the future of video on demand.”
The ZillionTV™ Service offers instant, subscription-free access to entertainment content from Hollywood studios and TV networks, tapping the libraries of its more than sixty content providers including Disney, 20th Century Fox Television, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution and The Weinstein Company. All content is offered on-demand and delivered directly to the television set via a common high-speed Internet connection. Currently in its Beta phase, ZillionTV expects to become available to consumers nationwide in the second half of 2010.