All virtual MVPDs started in the last decade as skinny bundles priced at under $40 a month, before an aggressive sports programming arms race doubled that bill for services like YouTube TV and Fubo. 

Bundling just over 70 entertainment channels and eschewing sports altogether, Philo has been the one to hold the line on price ... until it just can't anymore. 

The startup, which touts just over 1 million subscribers, went years before upping its monthly bill from $20 - $25 in June 2021. And it just announced its first price increase  since then, with new and returning subscribers paying $28 a month for the Philo "Core" package starting June 12. 

"We’re proud to say that this is only the second time in the seven-and-a-half years since we launched that we have raised our price," Philo founder and CEO Andrew McCollum said in a blog post. 

That pride is earned. And Philo is also offering plenty to soften the blow for its customers. For one, the price change doesn't impact legacy customers who don't take the Core bundle. If you signed up for the service, say, at launch in 2017, and you haven't cancelled or upgraded to the Core tier, you're still paying $20 a month. 

Secondly, and here's a decent perk, Core subscribers will now receive the $8.99-a-month AMC+ service as part of their programming bundle. 

Also in Wednesday's press release ... Philo said it has built up a collection of more than 70 "carefully curated" FAST channels, which are available to both subscribers and non-subscribers. 

Dish Media said it made an exclusive agreement to sell addressable advertising inventory on streaming service Philo.

The deal adds 1 million households to Dish Media’s addressable footprint beyond satellite provider Dish Network and virtual multichannel programming distributor (vMVPD) Sling TV, offering advertisers greater target market reach.

“We realize advertisers understand the value of addressable advertising and want to simplify their experience in reaching our audience,” Reed Barker, head of advertising at Philo, said. “Partnering with Dish Media,allows us to connect with advertisers through channels they value and are already investing in.”

Dish Media was an early mover in addressable advertising. With addressable campaigns, advertisers look to reach as much of their target audience without having to make deals with multiple media vendors.

Dish said there is only a 3% overlap between the audiences it already reaches and Philo’s viewership.

“We are particularly proud to be the partner of choice for Philo,” said David Antonelli, VP, media sales at Dish Media. “It serves as a testament to the strength of our relationships, our leadership in innovation and the power of our monetization engine. Our willingness to drive mutually beneficial partnerships in an increasingly fragmented landscape has allowed us to now scale our addressable footprint by more than 1 million households, offering advertisers the opportunity to connect with Philo’s diverse and engaged audience.”

Just a few years ago, pubs like ours were overrun with announcements from streaming app suppliers touting support on various TVOS platforms. 

Just like modern roads, Wi-Fi, and water and power connections, that buildout has been largely completed. It is 2024, after all.

But occasionally, one will catch us by surprise, and that happened Wednesday when Philo announced support for its app on Vizio SmartCast TVs. 

Vizio's TVOS platform is hardly inconsequential, touting 17.9 million users as of the end of September. 

Until now, Philo has somehow managed to get by without it. Perhaps the last of the virtual MVPDs to hold the line on pricing -- Philo lacks live sports but is still only priced at $25 a month -- the service last reported a subscriber count (800,000) several years ago. 

Looking at Philo's device/OS support page, it still has a number of unchecked boxes, including LG's webOS. 

Philo is launching an advertising campaign on Friday highlighting the streaming services wide array of programming in popular genres such as holiday films and true crime.

In one spot, a man who could be the star of a Hallmark movie, says “when I’m not playing a single father with a Christmas tree farm or a candlemaker who hand-carves sleds for orphans, I’m watching Philo.” 

He adds that “a streaming service this good could melt the icy heart of any big-city girl looking for the holiday spirit, or maybe a little love. “ 

The spot’s tagline is “Philo. Your home for the holiday.”

Also Read: Philo Adds FAST Channels To Programming Lineup

Another spot features a security guard talking to viewers who have “a love of true crime pulsing through your veins” that “for all you armchair detectives, there’ Philo.”

That spot signs off calling Philo “a criminally good deal.”

The campaign is slated to run through the first quarter of 2024. 

Future ads will feature classic comedy, home renovation and drama programming.

Philo says the commercial will run on linear TV, on connected TV, social channels and in Philo’s own ad inventory.

The spots were conceived, developed and written by Philo’s in-house creative team, and produced/directed by Ira Rosensweig and the team at Wavemaker Creative.

Cineverse said it signed a deal that makes its Fandor streaming service available to Philo subscribers.

Fandor will be part of Philo’s “Movies & More” tier, which is a $3 add-on on top of Philo’s base package.

“The addition of Fandor provides a greater array of choices to Philo’s ‘Movies & More’ add-on package, ensuring consumers will have the opportunity to explore both new and beloved favorites, available for viewing on demand,” said David Chu, executive VP & general manager at Cineverse Networks. “As we continue to aggressively expand the distribution of Fandor, we are certain that this will lead to new fans discovering our indie streaming platform.”

Also Read: Cineverse Launches AI Product To Optimize Video Streaming

Fandor features independent films, unseen curiosities and new releases from the festival circuit, as well as titlesfilm history.

Philo recently launched three of Cineverse’s free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) Channels: Comedy Dynamics, ScreamboxTV and The Bob Ross Channel. 

Converse's reality lifestyle channel So…Real is expected to launch in the coming months, the companies said.

With a $25 a month base price, Philo is an entertainment-focused streaming service. 

In addition to Fandor, Philo’s “More & More” tier includes FMC, Reelz and Sony Movies.

Music service Vevo announced that it has expanded its connected-TV distribution footprint with carriage on Philo.

At its NewFronts presentation Thursday, Vevo said it expected to launch on more platforms later this year and said it is expanding the list of channels on Samsung TV Plus, adding Vevo Alt & Indie, Vevo Dance & Electronic and Vevo 2010 to the platform exclusively.

Vevo is also launching Vevo Features, a year-long channel that will celebrate cultural months and holidays such as Black History Month, Women’s History Month, the Fourth of July and Halloween.

“With the increasing availability of premium content and the scale of distribution, FAST is the only growing sector of TV viewership now and for the foreseeable future,” Rob Christensen, Vevo senior VP, U.S. sales and global distribution, said. “Content is king, and with quality content that is free to air and made for TV, Vevo has been an early mover in the FAST space. We are proud to be the leading FAST network in the U.S. and the world.”

Vevo unveiled Vevo Intelligence, which uses data-driven tool to create contextual opportunities to create custom media opportunities for brands by matching brand creative with music video lyrics and visuals. 

Vevo said it is in the process of building a branded content studio. Branded content opportunities include live performances, behind-the-scenes content, brand-driven VJs, artist interviews and storytelling shows.

“Working directly with Vevo, media buyers can gain reach and intelligence into an unprecedented mix of diverse audiences," Vevo president of sales and distribution Kevin McGurn added. “Due to Vevo’s scale and ubiquitous presence in the streaming market, we can also offer buyers the flexibility and agility to quickly shift dollars fluidly across our global CTV footprint.”

Streaming TV service Philo said it added Smithsonian Channel and Pop TV to its base package.

The base package now has more than 70 channels and will continue to cost $25 a month.

“We’re super excited to kick off 2023 with two new channel additions - Smithsonian Channel and Pop TV,” said Adam Salmons, Philo’s head of distribution and content partnerships, in a blog post.

“We know our Philo community will love the awe-inspiring stories, powerful documentaries and amazing factual entertainment from Smithsonian Channel, as well as the fun, comedy-leaning Pop TV shows for viewers raised on ‘80s and ‘90s network TV,” Salmons said.

Philo offers streaming TV at a low price by focusing on entertainment channels and avoiding expensive networks with sports.

Smithsonian and Pop are part of Paramount Global. Philo already carries a number of Paramount channels including  BET, CMT, Comedy Central, Logo, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Paramount Network and TV Land. ■

Family Entertainment Television said it launched its FETV and movie channel FMC on the Philo streaming service.

"We value the relationship we have built with Philo and are excited to bring our family-friendly content to their subscribers," said Cara Conte, senior VP of affiliate sales for FETV and FMC. "With our continued expansion of FETV and FMC among virtual providers, we look forward to building on our ratings momentum for both networks."

FETV, launched in 2013, recently added Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman to a lineup that already features classic series like Rawhide, Perry Mason and Leave It to Beaver, as well as Gunsmoke and Perry Mason TV movies.

FETV had its highest monthly C3 ratings according to Nielsen in August. The channel got a boost after being added to Comcast systems. Following its launch on Altice's Optimum system, it had more than 50 million subscribers.

FMC, started up in 2021. Is featuring Westerns in October, with The Gambler series starring Kenny Rogers, Cowboy starring Glenn Ford and Coroner Creek with Randolph Scott. ■

Subscription streaming service Philo said it has launched an app for Samsung Smart TVs.

A  first-release version of the app is available at the Samsung TV app store, but Philo said  downloads might be delayed until it works its way through Samsung’s servers.

Philo said it was complying with requests from subscribers for the service to be more compatible with smart TVs and provide the same user experience available via connected devices like Roku and Amazon Fire. 

Also: Philo Adds Weigel’s Decades, Start TV to Channel Lineup

“We made the decision to launch an early version for Samsung Smart TVs to allow more of our subscribers to access Philo during the Yellowstone and Holiday season. We wanted to provide increased accessibility to all the shows you love, especially when traveling or visiting loved ones that may not have a Philo supported device,” Philo said in a blog post. 

Philo said the app will give subscribers access to features including a guide and saved favorite shows.

“The user experience is at the heart of everything we do, and look forward to hearing your feedback about what you would like to see to evolve the Samsung Smart TV app,” Philo said. ■

Streaming TV service Philo said it added Decades and Start TV, two of Weigel Broadcasting’s digital multicast networks, to its streaming channel lineup.

Weigel began making its channels available to streaming platforms earlier this year when it put MeTV  and Story TV on Frndly TV in March. Frndly TV added Decades, Heroes & Icons and Start TV in April. 

Philo has run Sony’s Get TV digital broadcast channel since 2020.

The new channels are being added to Philo at no extra cost to subscribers.

“Attention fans of nostalgia TV and female-led drama! Starting today on Philo, you can view some of the best classic sitcoms in TV history, as well as enjoy shows featuring the top female leading characters in popular scripted TV dramas,” said Philo’s Jane Marks in a blog post. “Philo has added two new channels: Decades and Start TV. We are always looking for new content to bring to our Philo community, and we hope you’ll love these channels as much as we already do.”

Decades, short for Television Across the Decades, features classic-TV comedies from the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, including I Love Lucy, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Cheers and Taxi.

Start TV features scripted dramas featuring women in diverse and compelling roles. Titles including The Closer, The Good Wife, Major Crimes, Rizzoli and Isles, Medium and Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. ■

Kin, the entertainment company creating Philo’s first original series, is launching a new series featuring former Destiny’s Child star LeToya Luckett.

Leave It to LeToya will hit Kin’s social channels, including YouTube, Facebook and Instagram TV, on May 24.

In the show Luckett will share her experiences with fans, including life after divorce and balancing a career with motherhood, as well as beauty secrets and tips about men and money. 

“LeToya is one of those talents that fans can just relate to. She’s the perfect partner for Kin,” said Shani Black, VP of programming at Kin. “We look forward to captivating the fans that have followed her throughout her career and introducing her to new viewers as well.”

LeToya Luckett, who left Destiny’s Child in 1999, has been a solo act and an actress, appearing on OWN TV’s Greenleaf and Power Book III: Raising Kanan on Starz.

“I’m looking forward to collaborating with Kin on this new show. I’m so excited to give fans a view into different aspects of my life from being a single mom, to my career, love life, and more,” Luckett said.

Leave It to LeToya is the latest series to join Kin’s line-up of digital shows including All Things Adrienne with Adrienne Bailon Houghton, Tia Mowry’s Quick Fix, and Hello Hunnay with Jeannie Mai.

For Philo, Kin created Boss Moves with Rasheeda around Love and Hip-Hop Atlanta’s Rasheeda Frost. Other Kin shows appear on a dedicated channel in Philo’s lineup.

Kin creates lifestyle franchises for diverse women ages 25 and up that are profitable on social media platforms, but also attract eyeballs on traditional TV and streaming platforms. Kin said it has licensed more than 300 long-form episodes of its programming to linear cable channels and streaming platforms. ■

Entertainment-based streaming platform Philo said it reached an agreement with Kin to produce Philo’s first original series, Boss Moves with Rasheeda.

The move signals that even low-priced entries in the streaming business are feeling pressure to get into original programming in order to attract and keep subscribers and users.

As part of the deal, Philo will launch a Kin Channel. The channel will have more than 65 hours of Kin’s women’s lifestyle programming. 

Also: Philo Donates $1 Million of Ads for Black Businesses

Kin’s shows include Hello Hunnay with Jeannie Mai Jenkins, Really, Truly, Maybe with Christina Milian, and Heart of the Batter with Jordin Sparks. 

The Kin library will be available to subscribers as part of Philo’s base package.

Boss Moves with Rasheeda stars Love and Hip-Hop Atlanta’s Rasheeda Frost. It is scheduled to premiere in April. The series will also be available on Kin’s social media channels.

Also: Philo Renews Carriage Deal with Crown Media Family Networks

“We’re thrilled to bring Kin’s entertaining and diverse content to our platform for our subscribers," said Mike Keyserling, COO of Philo. "Kin’s programming, which specifically focuses on entrepreneurship and female empowerment, is a great fit for Philo’s community. We are certain that Philo subscribers will enjoy the extensive catalog of Kin shows, as well as Boss Moves, our upcoming new original series with Rasheeda.”

Boss Moves with Rasheeda will begin shooting later this month and will include 12 30-minute episodes. The episodes will show audiences into Rasheeda’s homes and businesses and provide a behind-the-scenes look at her financial decision making.

"Kin creates programming that resonates with women of all backgrounds, wherever they are watching," said Tejal Ajmera, COO of Kin. “Kin creates programming that resonates with women of all backgrounds, wherever they are watching.  We are excited to debut Boss Moves with Philo and are  confident it will attract audiences looking for strong, talented, and diverse talent.”  ■

Yahoo said that Philo, the live TV streaming service, and Chicken Soup for the Soul’s Crackle have selected Yahoo to be a supply-side ad platform.

Yahoo, a media and tech company, was bought by Apollo Global Management last year from Verizon. It said it has accelerated its business in the fast growing connected TV space, increasing its CTV ad revenue 141% last year.

Also: Yahoo and Tubi Expand Buyer Access to CTV Ad Inventory

"We have quickly evolved to meet the new TV landscape," said Iván Markman, chief business officer of Yahoo. “From advertisers to publishers, we are helping our customers meet and exceed their needs in this exciting new area, with a unified ad stack and an end-to-end, integrated ecosystem that delivers sustainable identity, premium inventory and data, and tools that drive performance and efficiency.”

The company said its SSP allows media and inventory owners to increase performance and yield with a streamlined ad tech stack and supports transaction models, from header bidding to guaranteed campaigns. Yahoo also gives media owner access to its ad exchanges and the Yahoo DSP.

“Yahoo continues to be a key partner for us, as demand for ad-supported streaming surges,” said Philippe Guelton, president of Crackle Plus. “Yahoo’s reputation and pedigree within the programmatic video landscape provide us great opportunities to maximize the value of our supply with blue-chip brand partners that have been in business with Yahoo for years.” ■

Streaming service Philo will continue to offer Hallmark Channel to its subscribers as part of a carriage agreement renewal reached with Crown Media Family Networks.

The multi-year partnership deal also includes carriage of Hallmark Movies & Mysteries and Hallmark Drama, according  to both parties. The agreement follows on the heels of a recently announced Crown Media renewal deal with NCTC.  

“Our movies are currently leading Philo’s viewership charts, so we know there is great demand on the service for our content,” said Crown Media President & CEO, Wonya Lucas in a statement. “With this renewal agreement, we look forward to continuing to entertain Philo subscribers and bringing them more of the positive, feel-good Hallmark programming they know and love.”

Also: Lisa Hamilton Daly Wraps Up Hallmark Channel's Programming Gifts to Viewers

The deal keeps Hallmark's current holiday movies schedule in front of Philo.  Hallmark movies have become the most-watched on the platform for the month-to-date, according Philo COO and Head of Content and Distribution Mike Keyserling. 

“Philo viewers are huge fans of Hallmark holiday programming, so we are thrilled to extend our partnership with the Crown Media Family Networks to continue to offer their content to our community,” he said. “With family-friendly entertainment and 41 original movies this season, Hallmark is clearly synonymous with the holidays on our platform and beyond.” ■ 

Also: Philo to Carry Former Hallmark Head Bill Abbot's GAC Family, GAC Living

Philo has become the latest virtual pay TV service to be added to the “Live” menu feature on Google TV. 

Launched over the summer, the Live tab exists on the top line of Google TV‘s menu. Clicking on this menu item plies Google TV‘s advanced search and recommendation features to the live streaming services the OS knows you pay for. 

The “Live” tab started as a search and recommendation home for Google's YouTube TV, but Dish Network‘s Sling TV was added over the summer. 

Now, Philo subscribers using Google TV-powered devices need only visit their settings and the Philo box under “services.”

Philo talks about the new integration in this blog post. 

Google TV was launched a year ago this month as part of Google‘s latest Chromecast update. It's essentially a search and recommendation overlay software to Android TV. TCL and Sony, which have Android TV-powered product lines, have recently added Google TV. 

Now offering more than 60 entertainment channels (no news or sports) for an industry-low $25 a month, Philo hasn’t released a subscriber number since November of last year, when it said it had 800,000 paying customers. 

Philo has added five movie channels--Sony Movies, Reelz, HDNet Movies, MGM HD and Cenémoi--to its $3 premium network add-on bundle, Movies & More.

Launched in June 2020, Movies and More adds Epix and Starz to the more than 60 entertainment-themed channels Philo offers for a base price of $25 a month. 

Philo also announced that it's building out a fledgling FAST lineup that launched with Bloomberg TV and Revry--Pocket.watch, Ryan and Friend, Players TV and Gusto TV have been added to the service's FAST programming guide. 

Like most other virtual pay TV services, Philo hasn't published a subscriber count in a while--it said in November of last year that it was reaching 800,000 paid users. 

Startup Philo was the last vMVPD to announce a significant price increase--it bumped its monthly bill up to $25 a month back in May. 

Octopus Interactive, which runs ads on screens inside Uber and Lyft vehicles, mounted a campaign using Discovery’s Shark Week to promote the Philo streaming TV service.

The campaign, which used Octopus’ new Tune in Takeover interactive video format, served up 3.5 million impressions to riders.

Some of those riders bit on the campaign and followed up for more information about Philo, which carries more than 60 channels, including Discovery, for $25 per month.

Also Read: Verizon Media Pushes Shark Week With Augmented Reality Campaign

“We’re very pleased with the high click-through rates and engagement we’ve seen by leveraging rideshare advertising and using the Octopus ‘Tune in Takeover’,” said Emily Mosbacher, director of brand and partner marketing at Philo. “Octopus puts Philo in front of rideshare passengers and potential customers and allows them to interact with Philo and our content. We’re thrilled to build brand awareness through Octopus and are already planning our next campaign with their team.”

The Philo campaign ran July 12 through July 18 in 42 markets. 

Octopus’ Tune in Takeover format lets passengers select from a variety of short preview videos from media advertisers.

For the Philo promotion, passengers could watch Shark Week content featuring different species, such as makos, porbeagles or great whites.

“Our new ‘Tune in Takeover’ ad format for media advertisers gives rideshare passengers the opportunity to lean back and enjoy extended content of their choosing,” said Mikea Granberry, director of business development at Octopus. “Rideshare advertising delivers a captive, desirable audience, and we’re thrilled with the results we’re seeing with Philo and our other media partners.”

In another blow to the struggling virtual pay TV market, Philo said that the price its new customers pay is rising $5 a month to $25.

Philo's more than 800,000 existing subscribers, plus any of those who sign up before June 8, will continue to pay $20 a month or less.

However, Philo is adding an enticement to its new $25 "tier"--those paying that rate get to keep the shows stored on their unlimited cloud DVR for one year, vs. the current 30 days. Existing customers who want that 365-day storage need to start paying 25 bucks a month. 

Philo offers the skinniest, most straightforward bundle of the vMVPDs, delivering a single programming tier of more than 60 entertainment-oriented basic cable channels, no news or sports.

As rival vMVPDs (Sony PlayStation Vue, AT&T TV Now,  T-Mobile TVision) have fallen by the wayside, or seen their prices shoot up from $35 to $65 a month (YouTube TV), Philo has notably managed to hold the line as a cost-effective solution for complimenting  SVOD services and OTA antennas with an array of live basic-cable channels. 

Technically, this is Philo's first ever price increase. In April 2019, the San Francisco streaming startup eliminated its $16-a-month base tier for new customers (existing customers got grandfathered in that that rate). Its "premium" $20-a-month plan  became the only tier available for signups moving forward. 

The company, meanwhile, has steadily added minor networks to its portfolio, doubling its offering from startup. 

But given the constant upward price pressure on licensing linear channels, even Philo can only hold the line so long.

In the dog house with media tech equity analysts almost from the beginning, the low-margin business of live-streaming bundles of expensive-to-license linear pay TV channels may be officially out of kibble. 

Not to wear out the ol’ canine metaphors here too much, but the first quarter was, well, ruff! for virtual MVPD operators. Most saw their customer bases further erode. And nobody but nobody seems to be making any bones from doing this. 

The biggest vMVPD operator, Hulu + Live TV, reported the loss of 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter, finishing with around 3.8 million subscribers—about 500,000 more than it had after the first three months of 2020. Considering how fast that platform shot up to 3 million users, however, that’s a noticeable deceleration. 

Controlling company Disney can buy the outstanding 33% stake in Hulu from Comcast in 2024. The base price will be $27.5 billion, but Disney will have to pay a greater “fair market” price if Hulu continues to shoot up in value. So it’s questionable as to whether Disney is interested in promotions that drive the Hulu + Live TV subscriber base right now. 

Google, meanwhile, didn’t reveal a first-quarter subscriber growth number for the second largest vMVPD, YouTube TV. But research company MScience estimated its first quarter customer expansion to only be around 5,000 users. That's probably around how many MIT-trained engineers are in Google's break room right now. 

Any likely operating loss being incurred by YouTube TV is undoubtedly buried within the vast Alphabet balance sheet. But it’s not an inconsequential business, given that YouTube TV is awkwardly positioned in the middle of Google’s ongoing dispute with Roku right now. Anything that disrupts distribution on the top OTT platform can’t be good for a still nascent streaming business that’s already not growing too fast.

And speaking of not growing so fast, Dish Network’s Sling TV lost 100,000 customers in the first quarter. The very first vMVPD in the market back in February 2015, the platform now has only 2.374 million users, about a 174,000 more than it had three years ago. 

An aggressive two-months-free promotion for new and existing Verizon customers, announced just this past week, should help Q2 performance. But Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen wasn’t kidding around when he said his company “stumbled” with Sling TV, squandering first-to-market momentum with what has been a cruddy app and inadequate overall live streaming tech platform. 

For its part, New York startup turned SPAC-enabled IPO, fuboTV, is the fastest growing vMVPD right now, adding 43,000 customers in Q1, and finishing the period with over 590,400 customers—that’s more than double what it had at this time last year. 

But as fuboTV tries to integrate pricey sports betting acquisitions and turn itself into something more than a low-margin vMPVD, the losses are mounting—the company reported an operating loss of more than $70 million for Q1. Some in the investment community—notably, analyst Richard Greenfield—are aggressively skeptical about fuboTV. 

And if you were one of those folks who speculatively put around $1,000 worth of your 401K or IRA into FUBO back in February, just to see what would happen? … Let’s just say you’re down over $600 today. 

Drilling further, AT&T—right before it spun off its pay TV assets and sold a piece of that spinoff to private equity firm TPG—rolled its vMVPD, AT&T TV Now, into its IP-based premium pay TV service, AT&T TV.

There’s a no-contract iteration of AT&T TV, which AT&T reps insist is, in fact, a virtual MVPD. You can sign up for this service and quit it immediately, with no contracts are proprietary CPE required. But there’s no flat rate price for AT&T TV, since taxes and fees are involved. In our view, AT&T TV is still too rooted in old-world pay TV economics—starting with the heavy $69.99 list price—to qualify as a vMVPD on our list. 

Meanwhile, T-Mobile’s TVision ankled the market, six months after it came in—the victim of an egregiously stupid miscalculation of the flexibility the wireless company had to tier channels within the confines of its program licensing contracts. 

Finally, startup Philo—perhaps the only remaining true “skinny” bundle—has been lauded for maintaining sustainability. The San Francisco company, which bundles over 60 entertainment channels, no news or sports, for $20 a month reported back in March that it had 800,000 paying subscribers, a 300% year-over-year pandemic-era uptick. 

We don’t know how good or how bad Q1 was to Philo, but it likely didn’t change the downward trajectory of the moribund vMPVD business, regardless. 

Philo said it is adding Crackle, Bloomberg TV and Revry to its low-priced, entertainment-focused streaming platform.

“Philo offers affordable TV content to their fast growing audience and we are thrilled to give them full access to Crackle’s library of Hollywood blockbusters and classic TV shows, as well as a growing collection of original and exclusive content not available on any other platforms, such as Going From Broke, which will launch a second season on May 20th,” said Philippe Guelton, president of Crackle Plus, a division of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment.

Revry is a global streaming network focused on the LGBTQ community.

"Revry is thrilled to bring Queer to Philo with a curated selection of movies, shows, and news from the newest voices within the LGBTQ+ community,” said Damian Pelliccione, CEO/co-founder. “Revry inspires exploration of creators that authentically represent queer culture for all audiences.”

Philo offers subscribers more than 60 channels including A&E, AMC, Comedy Central, Food Network and TV One. T-Mobile, which folded its own TV service, is offering its subscribers Philo for $10 per month, half the normal rate.

“The addition of new content from Crackle, as well as Bloomberg TV and Revry, further highlights Philo’s commitment to provide our customers with the best TV viewing experience at a great value,” said Mike Keyserling, COO and head of content Acquisition at Philo. “We’re glad to be able to add these incredible channels to our robust line-up of programming for Philo viewers.”

Philo said it has added an AccuWeather Channel to its streaming service, effective Tuesday as storms are rolling in several regions of the country.

AccuWeather is the first weather channel on Philo, which now offers 64 channels to its 800,000 customers who pay $20 a month.

“We are excited to provide AccuWeather’s precise and reliable weather coverage to our customers. The inclement winter season often means weather news needs to be timely and accurate” said Mike Keyserling, COO and head of content acquisition at Philo. “Philo is focused on bringing new and differentiated content to our service while maintaining value for our subscribers.”   

AccuWeather’s meteorologists and field reporters provide coverage of local, regional and national weather conditions, severe warning alerts and forecasts.

“We are thrilled to be joining the Philo family of top TV streaming programming,” said Sarah Katt, GM, AccuWeather TV Network. “We are deeply committed to delivering the most accurate and reliable local and breaking weather coverage to help everyone in every community plan their lives and get more from their day, and we look forward to now being able to bring this breadth of weather forecasts, news and insights to Philo’s audience as well.”

Once considered the future of the video business, OTT-based live-channel bundles, otherwise known as virtual MVPDS, or vMVPDs, have been more recently written off by some analysts as failed businesses. 

But nearly six years after Dish Network ushered in the vMVPD model with the launch of Sling TV, the competitors seem to be holding the line in a low-margin gambit, where affordable pricing is undermined by ever-increasing program licensing demands. 

With the recent launch of T-Mobile’s TVision service, there are more than a dozen vMVPDs on the market. But the third quarter was the first time that all of the biggest virtual operators actually reported their subscriber counts. In fact, the top six services tallied more than 11.5 million users between them. 

By our rough estimate, about 15% of the remaining pay TV business in the U.S. is accounted for by these no-contract, immediate sign-up, skinny-bundled OTT services. 

Below is a low-resolution look at how the top six vMVPDs stack up in terms of stated subscriber count.

Streaming service Philo said it is donating $1 million worth of ad impressions as part of a campaign aimed at to support Black-owned business and social organizations in 2020.

“In light of the recent events, we decided to use our platform as a place for good. We opened up our ad inventory space to provide space for discussions about systemic injustice, raise awareness for social good organizations, and provide Black business owners with an opportunity to promote their businesses free-of-charge. Philo is truly TV for everyone, and we want our ad presence on the platform to be uplifting and include diverse representation.” Reed Barker, head of advertising at Philo.  

The ad began running in the third quarter on Philo’s platform and inserted on channels including A&E, aspireTV, BET, Cleo TV, Food Network, HGTV, OWN and TV.. The ads are inserted into the “local insertion” advertisement break. 

Beyond the initial ad commitment, Philo's team has been working with some of the organizations and businesses to create ads utilizing the streaming service’s in-house design team. 

The organizations Philo is wiring with includes: aspireTV's aspireMKTPLC; BEVEL(A Walker and Company Brand); Black American Music Association; Black Girls Rock; BlackNation; Boston University Center For Antiracist Research; Color Of Change; EMPOWRD App; Harlem’s Fashion Row; Know Your Rights Camp; LEAP Initiative; MessInABottle; National Basketball Players Association; National Urban League; Sacred Heart Collections; Scotch Porter; Shea Moisture Fund; SIX/20; SONSON; The Crown Act; The Gathering Spot; The Innocence Project; The LIME Foundation; Thurgood Marshall College Fund; United Negro College Foundation; US Black Chambers, Inc(USBC); Voting Rights Is Our Civil Rights; and Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network (WEEN).

As the drum-tight pay TV market tries to make room for yet another skinny-bundle competitor, two virtual operators, Sling TV and Philo, seem most exposed. 

And executives for these embattled incumbents have taken notice. 

“It’s a very competitive product,” said Erik Carlson, CEO of Sling TV parent company Dish Network, speaking during Friday’s third-quarter earnings call. “it’s something that they’ve been working on a while since they acquired Layer3 TV. And we’re just looking forward to try to compete against them.”

“I think the offering from T-Mobile is really interesting,” added Philo CEO Andrew McCollum, speaking Monday during Questex-produced virtual conference the StreamTV Show. 

Also Read: TVision: The Video Multi-Tool T-Mobile’s Wireless Rivals Lack

For Philo, the “interest” lies in TVision’s “Vibe” tier, which packages over 30 entertainment-oriented cable networks, much of the selection overlapping with the $20-a-month Philo, for just $10 a month.

“Comparing the prices directly isn’t fair,” McCollum pointed out, noting that TVision Vibe customers have to pay $5 a month for a DVR while Philo offers one for free. And Vibe’s DVR is capped at 100 hours of HD recording vs. unlimited storage for Philo. 

“Also, you only get two streams instead of three” with Vibe,” he added, “and it’s not available on Roku. It’s only available on T-Mobile postpaid.” 

McCollum also pointed out T-Mobile’s early carriage kerfuffles with Discovery Networks, ViacomCBS and NBCUniversal over channel positioning, Discovery, for instance, is miffed about being relegated to Vibe and not included in the more traditional-looking, $40-a-month TVision Live bundle, which looks a lot like the $30-a-month Sling TV package, right down to the exclusion of CBS local channels. 

NBCU, conversely, isn’t happy about being left out of Vibe. 

“They seem to be in hot waters with their programming partners, so maybe the approach they took wasn’t calculated right…” McCollum said. 

McCollum revealed Monday that Philo has reached the 800,000 paid subscriber mark. Dish said Friday that Sling TV added 203,000 customers in Q3, marking a return to growth for the vMVPD after recessionary Q1 and Q2 periods. 

Philo has announced a new partnership with Best Buy--yes, "strategic"!--in which the virtual pay TV service will be marketed along with select devices at the brick-and-mortar retail chain. 

The San Francisco-based streaming startup said this is its first such retail deal. The announcement also claims that this is the first such tie-up with a streaming service for the national big-box chain, which is a little harder to believe. 

Under the agreement, Best Buy shoppers can get a free month of Philo when they purchase select streaming devices, smart TVs and antennas. Or they simply sign up for Philo through Best Buy, they'll get 50% off their first bill. 

Philo is the lowest priced virtual MVPD, offering 61 channels for $20 a month, sans ESPN or much sports at all. The service announced in August that it had accumulated 750,000 paid subscribers, up 300% year over year. 

“We’re thrilled to announce our partnership with Best Buy, and it opens the door to a whole new segment of customers to embrace the future of TV," said Andrew McCollum, CEO of Philo, in a statement. "Complexity is still the biggest barrier for consumers looking to cut the cord and switch to streaming TV, and Best Buy has a long history of helping customers navigate the best tech and entertainment products all in one place.” 

Google Fiber will now promote virtual MVPD service Philo as a video option to customers. 

The addition of the entertainment-oriented, more budget-minded Philo complements the other vMPVD options Google Fiber offers to customers, YouTube TV and fuboTV, both of which offer more robust, sports-oriented channel lineups for $65-a-month. 

Philo offers just over 60 channels, no ESPN or sports included, for $20 a month.

Also read: Google Fiber Kills Its TV Service, Starts Marketing fuboTV

Google Fiber announced in February that it would market virtual pay TV services in place of its own legacy pay TV service. 

“More than 84% of our customers use some sort of streaming service. Whether you are part of the 16% who haven’t yet found the right way to watch or you’re a seasoned streaming pro, we’ve put together some info on our website to help make it easier for you to find the best content for you,” said Liz Hsu, director of product strategy for Google Fiber, said in a company blog post.

Philo, the low-cost TV streaming service, said it has nearly 750,000 subscribers.

With subscriber growth up 300% year over year, Philo said it was the fastest growing MVPD in the first half of 2020.

Philo said its growth indicates that, at a time when the economy is uncertain and consumers are looking to save money, its skinny bundle strategy of offering “beloved brands at an affordable price” is working. 

Philo is able to offer its service for about $20 a month by not carrying channels with sports--including the big broadcast networks.

A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Discovery and ViacomCBS are among the programmers whose channels appear on Philo.

Discovery CEO David Zaslav touted Philo's growth during Discovery's second-quarter earnings call Wednesday. Zaslav said that Philo's success indicated the popularity of a low-price, skinny bundle that didn't force consumers to buy expensive channels, including those with sports.

Philo said it recently added TV One, INSP and getTV to its lineup and offers add on options including Starz and Epix.

Low-cost, sports-free streaming television service Philo said it has reached a deal with Google and is now available via Chromecast.

Philo also said it rolled out Philo Connect, which will help Philo users connect and watch programming all of their devices. The Chromecast functionality on Android devices is the first part of Philo Connect, which in the future will help Philo users connect all of the devices they use to watch TV, the company said.

“Chromecast support has been one of our most requested features, allowing subscribers to play Philo content on television screens. We wanted to go beyond just Chromecast support to create a better way to seamlessly watch content on all of your devices, a feature we are calling Philo Connect” said Andrew McCollum, CEO of Philo.

Users will be able to watch Philo’s 61 channels on their TVs by casting from the Philo app to a Chromecast.

Chromecst Connect aims to make it easier for people who have cut the cord to watch what they want, when they want on the device of their choice.

“At Philo, every addition to our product is scrutinized and tested to bring true value to our subscribers,” said Philo head of product, Devon Ray Williams. “We took the time to build Philo Connect to expand our experience to support synchronized viewing on all your devices, not just Chromecast. Today’s launch has laid the groundwork for us to support social viewing and watch parties between multiple users, no matter where they are.”

Philo costs $20 a month and offers unlimited DVR and on demand content. It has programming agreements with A+E Networks, ViacomCBS and Discovery and recently added TV One, INSP and get TV.Subscribers can add on Epix and Starz at an additional cost.

Streaming service Philo and TV One reached a distribution agreement, marking the network’s first deal with a virtual multichannel video programming distributor (vMVPD).

Philo also announced that it is working with the National Urban League to present a series of presentations aimed at helping Black small business owners build their brands.

With consumers cutting the cable cord, getting carriage on vMVPDs is helpful.

“We are excited to have TV One’s first vMVPD distribution deal be with Philo,” said TV One and CLEO TV general manager Michelle Rice. “They have been a great partner and continue to demonstrate a commitment to diverse content.”

TV One joins more than 60 channels on Philo, which charges $20 a month. The low-cost service provides non-sports programming from companies including A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Discovery and ViacomCBS. Last month Philo added INSP and get TV to its base package.

“What a great time to bring TV One onto the platform as it has been a highly requested network from our customers for quite some time, and we are excited to bring this sought-after content to our subscribers. We’re proud to be the first vMVPD to offer TV One while maintaining our best-in-class price point of $20 per month,” said Andrew McCollum, CEO of Philo. “Adding more diverse programming aligns with our continued commitment to our community. The addition of TV One is the result of our appreciation for the importance of Black-owned channels and content perspectives to our overall business objectives, which in turn create opportunities for diverse creators.” 

Philo’s three-part “Power Lunch Series: How to Build a Brand” will kick off in September as part of the National Urban League’s Tech Series.

The first session will feature Philo’s head of marketing Nii Mantse Addy and Philo’s head of customer acquisition Carolyn Ferreira. They will discuss the impact of digital marketing strategies.

“The National Urban League is proud to partner with Philo on this initiative to both support and empower small African American business owners at such a critical time,” said National Urban League president and CEO Marc Morial. “Never in history have digital marketing and branding skills been more important to building consumer awareness and loyalty. We’re confident the ‘Power Lunch Series’ will help businesses to innovate and thrive in today’s challenging environment.”

Future sessions will cover email marketing and social media and brand creative.

"Philo has always been committed to supporting the communities that we serve, which includes investing in diversity and equity where we have influence,” said Addy. “In our discussions with the National Urban League, it became clear that the small businesses they partner with could benefit from our core competencies as a rapidly growing digital business. 

Philo said The Urban League partnership and adding TV One fit with its diversity, equity and inclusion principles. 

In addition to a commitment to Black-owned content, Philo said it is donating $1 million worth of video advertising inventory to Black-owned businesses and social initiative to run on Philo and working with its programmers and the Ad Council to stream anti-racism public service announcements on the platform.

Philo said it's not raising its industry-low $20-a-month price despite price-bump announcements last week by virtual MVPD competitors YouTube TV and fuboTV. 

"Here at Philo we wanted to connect with you in case we can provide more context to the streaming market," a Philo rep told Next TV. "This week we added two additional channels, getTV and INSP bringing our channel lineup to 60 and keeping our price point at an affordable $20/month. Popular channels on Philo include A&E, AMC, Comedy Central, Food Network, HGTV, ID, Lifetime, MTV, Nickelodeon, OWN, Tastemade, WE TV, and many more. We also offer a seven-day free trial for new users."

Also read: YouTube TV Raises Price $15 After Adding ViacomCBS Channels

San Francisco-based vMVPD start-up Philo is the latest virtual pay TV service to try to make marketing hay following Google's announcement last week that its YouTube TV service is rising in price from $50 a month to $65. FuboTV also announced last week that it is raising its price from $60 to $65 following its first-ever program licensing deal with Disney.

"As we continue to gain momentum and subscribers, we believe we offer something different than our competitors who are increasingly upping their prices to attempt to break even. We believe our 'skinny bundle' is really the only solution for cord-cutters looking for value," the Philo rep added. 

Amid the thickening jungle that has become the over-the-top landscape over the past few years, it can be tough for an upstart streaming service to make a dent. But at Philo, a streaming service that launched back in 2017, head of advertising Reed Barker said success has been driven by three simple tenets -- good customer service, low prices and ease of use.

Philo offers 59 channels for about $20 per month, minus news, sports and local broadcast channels. Philo does not release subscriber figures (some estimates say they had about 50,000 customers in 2018). Barker said Philo grew customers last year at about a 10% monthly clip.

“This year it’s been an even larger explosion,” he said. “We had what we thought were very ambitious goals. Given what’s happened with current events and people streaming more... we’ve seen incredible subscriber growth that we’re hoping to continue with."

Speaking at an opening keynote session at the Future-produced Virtual Next TV Summit Thursday, Barker said strong customer service -- its customer satisfaction scores are in the 90%-plus range -- not charging for features like DVR and Look Back that other larger providers do and making content easy to find have led to success.

“We built a package that has everything included on it,” Barker told session moderator Paige Bilins, VP of product management at Telaria. “We’re not trying to charge extra for having what we think should be just the table stakes.”

Philo also serves as a complement to SVOD services like HBO Max, Disney+ and Peacock, Barker said.

“We don’t carry content from NBCUniversal, WarnerMedia or Disney/ABC,” Barker said. “It’s pretty easy to add a $6 Disney+ subscription to Philo.”

For advertisers, Barker said the Philo approach is similar.

Barker said the key is listening to what its DSP partners and advertisers say they need to make advertising relevant all the way up the chain.

“Addressability doesn’t work if you’re doing something different from everyone or if you’re not trying to lead,” Barker said.

About six months ago Philo started adding genre, rating and runtime in the content signals for targeting, and has been working to build first party data segments based on its customer usage patterns. That allows advertisers to target a consumer who watches a lot of do-it-yourself programming not just on home shows, but in any program they are watching.

“So you’re able to find those targets that are relevant, not only in the context of what they’re watching, but in the context of what they’ve watched in their watch history,” Barker said. “We think that really helps with relevance, making sure you’re seeing an ad that isn’t annoying.” 

Amid the thickening jungle that has become the over-the-top landscape over the past few years, it can be tough for an upstart streaming service to make a dent. But at Philo, a streaming service that launched back in 2017, head of advertising Reed Barker said success has been driven by three simple tenets -- good customer service, low prices and ease of use.

Philo offers 59 channels for about $20 per month, minus news, sports and local broadcast channels. Philo does not release subscriber figures (some estimates say they had about 50,000 customers in 2018). Barker said Philo grew customers last year at about a 10% monthly clip.

“This year it’s been an even larger explosion,” he said. “We had what we thought were very ambitious goals. Given what’s happened with current events and people streaming more... we’ve seen incredible subscriber growth that we’re hoping to continue with."

Speaking at an opening keynote session at the Future-produced Virtual Next TV Summit Thursday, Barker said strong customer service -- its customer satisfaction scores are in the 90%-plus range -- not charging for features like DVR and Look Back that other larger providers do and making content easy to find have led to success.

“We built a package that has everything included on it,” Barker told session moderator Paige Bilins, VP of product management at Telaria. “We’re not trying to charge extra for having what we think should be just the table stakes.”

Philo also serves as a complement to SVOD services like HBO Max, Disney+ and Peacock, Barker said.

“We don’t carry content from NBCUniversal, WarnerMedia or Disney/ABC,” Barker said. “It’s pretty easy to add a $6 Disney+ subscription to Philo.”

For advertisers, Barker said the Philo approach is similar.

Barker said the key is listening to what its DSP partners and advertisers say they need to make advertising relevant all the way up the chain.

“Addressability doesn’t work if you’re doing something different from everyone or if you’re not trying to lead,” Barker said.

About six months ago Philo started adding genre, rating and runtime in the content signals for targeting, and has been working to build first party data segments based on its customer usage patterns. That allows advertisers to target a consumer who watches a lot of do-it-yourself programming not just on home shows, but in any program they are watching.

“So you’re able to find those targets that are relevant, not only in the context of what they’re watching, but in the context of what they’ve watched in their watch history,” Barker said. “We think that really helps with relevance, making sure you’re seeing an ad that isn’t annoying.” 

The Virtual Next TV Summit, part of Future's Virtual NYC TV Week Spring, concludes May 1.

As the product category evolves, and operators get better at the science of live-streaming video over the open internet, users of virtual pay TV platforms are becoming happier with their service.

An online survey of 6,462 U.S. households conducted by Leichtman Research Group found that 76% of respondents are very satisfied with their vMVPD service compared to 69% in 2018.

Visit Next TV to read more stories like this one. 

Only 14% are inclined to switch to another virtual pay TV service in the next six months compared to 27% in 2018, the last time LRG conducted its Internet Delivered Pay-TV Services study.

The vMVPD category includes Hulu Plus Live TV, Sling TV, YouTube TV, AT&T TV Now, fuboTV, Philo and Vidgo.

The 2020 version of LRG’s report suggests the category still isn’t all that accretive to the overall pay TV business. Only 12% of vMVPD subscribers were most recently non-subscribers to any type of pay TV service.

The biggest share of users, 44%, arrived from traditional cable, satellite or telco platforms, while 26% have kept their traditional service and 18% switched from another vMVPD.

Overall, 18% of adults ages 18-44 have a vMVPD service, with that age group accounting for 65% of U.S. vMVPD subscribers.

LRG found that 79% of all households have at least one SVOD or direct-to-consumer streaming video service, and 44% have three or more of these services.

“More than ever, consumers are exploring the trade-offs between traditional and vMVPD pay-TV services—along with an increasing number of streaming options—to find the combination of content and cost that best meets their needs,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. “Younger adults and those with more people and TVs in the household have thus far proven to be most attracted to the lower-cost and lower-channel vMVPD options.”

Frontier Communications has become the latest telecom to retrench from the traditional pay TV business and simply offer a third-party virtual MVPD service to its subscribers to what is now its core service offering, broadband. 

Philo, which offers a bundle of 59 entertainment-themed channels—no broadcast networks, or sports or news—for an industry-low $20 a month—announced this week that both Frontier and cable company WideOpenWest will offer its service to its broadband-only customers. 

Also read: Cable Operator WOW! to Market vMVPDs Sling TV, YouTube TV, fuboTV and Philo in Charleston

Frontier paid Verizon $10.54 billion in 2016 for Fios assets in California, Texas and Florida. But less than four years after that deal closed, Frontier seems to be content with rendering its Fios service a single-play offering. 

Also read: YouTube TV Gains Distribution Into Windstream Kinetic Broadband Homes

Frontier’s pay TV subscriber base shrunk to below 700,000 at the end of the third quarter. And like virtually all other North American pay TV operators, the company faces a virtuous cycle—the more its customer base for TV shrinks, the less bargaining power it has to push back against programmers in licensing negotiations. 

This downward trajectory has most small and mid-sized telecoms looking to third-party OTT services. Providing a video solution is crucial to packaging what is now their core business, broadband. And bundling ready-made live-streaming services like Philo has become a hot trend. 

Englewood, Co.-based WideOpenWest has become the latest cable operator to marginalize its shrinking traditional pay TV business, announcing that it will market virtual pay TV services Sling TV, YouTube TV, fuboTV and Philo to broadband customers in Charleston, S.C.

WOW!, as the company likes to brand itself, lost another 6,300 TV video customers in the third quarter, its base shrinking to just under 381,000 subscribers. As its scale shrinks, WOW!’s programming costs continue to escalate—it’s the virtuous cycle that has many Tier 2 and 3 cable operators choosing to market vMVPDs in lieu of offering the business that created the cable industry in the first place, TV piped into homes by a wire.

WOW! said it’s providing “free in-home set-top” of the customer OTT configuration, as well as an Amazon Fire TV Stick at no cost.

"WOW! has always put a high value on offering choices to consumers,” said WOW! CEO Teresa Elder, in a statement. “This is one more way we're empowering customers to determine when, where and how they consume information and entertainment. Our robust broadband network is the natural choice for HSD customers in Charleston who want to access streaming services on their terms."

Also read: TiVo’s Shull: We Want to Deploy TiVo Stream into Cable Broadband-only Homes

As small and mid-sized cable operators abandon the concept of licensing programming networks and building network bundles themselves, they don’t want to totally abdicate the video business.

OTT companies are rushing into this void. On Monday, for example, Windstream announced that it will market YouTube TV to its Kinetic broadband customers.

Last week, for example, Amazon announced that it’s giving the 750 member companies of the National Cable TV Cooperative discounts to its Fire TV streaming devices. Meanwhile, TiVo’s CEO, Dave Shull, announced that his company will look to its Tier 2 and 3 cable operator partners to distribute TiVo Stream 4K, the company’s new entry into the OTT device market. 

Englewood, Co.-based WideOpenWest has become the latest cable operator to marginalize its shrinking traditional pay TV business, announcing that it will market virtual pay TV services Sling TV, YouTube TV, fuboTV and Philo to broadband customers in Charleston, S.C.

WOW!, as the company likes to brand itself, lost another 6,300 TV video customers in the third quarter, its base shrinking to just under 381,000 subscribers. As its scale shrinks, WOW!’s programming costs continue to escalate—it’s the virtuous cycle that has many Tier 2 and 3 cable operators choosing to market vMVPDs in lieu of offering the business that created the cable industry in the first place, TV piped into homes by a wire. 

WOW! said it’s providing “free in-home set-top” of the customer OTT configuration, as well as an Amazon Fire TV Stick at no cost. 

"WOW! has always put a high value on offering choices to consumers,” said WOW! CEO Teresa Elder, in a statement. “This is one more way we're empowering customers to determine when, where and how they consume information and entertainment. Our robust broadband network is the natural choice for HSD customers in Charleston who want to access streaming services on their terms." 

Also read: TiVo’s Shull: We Want to Deploy TiVo Stream into Cable Broadband-only Homes

As small and mid-sized cable operators abandon the concept of licensing programming networks and building network bundles themselves, they don’t want to totally abdicate the video business.

OTT companies are rushing into this void. On Monday, for example, Windstream announced that it will market YouTube TV to its Kinetic broadband customers. 

Also Amazon announced that it’s giving the 750 member companies of the National Cable TV Cooperative discounts to its Fire TV streaming devices. Meanwhile, TiVo’s CEO, Dave Shull, announced that his company will look to its Tier 2 and 3 cable operator partners to distribute TiVo Stream 4K, the company’s new entry into the OTT device market. 

A decade ago, over-the-top distribution was a start-up’s game, dominated by the Slingboxes and Aereos of the world, not to mention the wave of YouTube multichannel networks like AwesomenessTV.

Heck, it wasn’t that long ago that Roku, which went public as recently as 2017 and will be a billion-dollar revenue company this year, was considered a start-up. In fact, Netflix was once a start-up, too, although it went public in 2002, long before it began streaming video.

These days, of course, OTT video is dominated by Silicon Valley giants, which have—somewhat ironically—put the major media conglomerates and telecoms in the role of insurgents, with Disney, AT&T/WarnerMedia and Comcast/NBCUniversal about to launch new streaming services to try to disrupt the strongholds of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube. Even Apple is playing the role of disruptor with Apple TV+.

Indeed, streaming is now a big company's game, with the next wave of disruption driven by some of the biggest corporations in the world. But there are a few scrappy streaming start-ups still out there, waiting to get bought.

Of course, they very infrequently say outright they want to get purchased. But it’s so obviously the plan! With that in mind, here are five notable independent OTT companies, which seem to be seeking a lot of attention these days. Note that we’re focusing on streaming start-ups here, and not ad-tech companies.

TUBI TV

Viacom had M&A talks with San Francisco-based Tubi TV in January, just before it announced its $340 million purchase of another AVOD platform, Pluto TV.

Speaking with MCN just after that Pluto TV deal was announced, Farhad Massoudi, co-founder and CEO of Tubi TV, said, “I can’t comment on M&A, but we are very confident in our path of staying independent.”

Certainly, the start-up—which was founded in 2011 as an ad tech company called AdRise, and has been privately funded to the tune of $26 million, according to its Crunchbase profile—has done everything it can to keep up its public profile.

Shortly after that conversation, Tubi TV closed on a $25 million loan with Silicon Valley Bank that it said would be used on a “nine-figure” content acquisition budget in 2019.

Indeed, Tubi TV has stayed steadily in the news, announcing myriad content deals, integrating its app natively into major pay TV platforms including Cox’s licensed version of X1, and expanding into Australia.

XUMO

It was reported back in February that Sinclair was “kicking the tires” on this Irvine, California-based AVOD company, which supplies an app that runs natively on smart TVs manufactured by Panasonic, LG, Sharp and Hisense.

Xumo is actually a joint venture between Panasonic and Viant, a Meredith-owned company that now owns MySpace. Speaking to MCN late last year, CEO Colin Petrie-Norris said his marching orders are to “grow the business rapidly.” The focus recently has been adding niche sports programming channels to its live-streamed, pay TV-like programming grid.

And like Tubi TV, Xumo’s name has been active in the headlines over the last six months, hiring new executives, expanding its channel lineup, and natively embedding its app into Comcast’s X1 and Android TV set-tops.

PHILO

The San Francisco-based virtual MVPD operator launched in 2010 and has been privately funded with $83.2 million through seven rounds, according to the company’s Crunchbase profile. Investors include Discovery Networks, Scripps Ventures, Viacom, A+E Networks, AMC Networks and HBO.

In April, Philo became the latest vMVPD to adjust its business model and raise rates, consolidating its service tiers into one $20-a-month offering with 58 channels, no broadcast networks or sports channels.

Led by CEO Andrew McCollum, who was part of Facebook when it was considered a startup, Philo kept it close to the vest when MCN pinged it about possible M&A opportunities. A company rep sent us the announcement from last year that Philo went live on Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV. She said that was the last time the company talked finances publicly. It was the equivalent of saying, “no comment.”

As far as we can tell, Philo hasn’t released a subscriber figure. But the company does seem to give off a decided “for sale” vibe at industry events.

Speaking at MCN’s OTT Summit conference in Santa Monica, California earlier this month, Mike Keyserling, COO and head of content acquisition for Philo, managed to boast about huge growth without giving away subscriber figures.

“We grew by 30% in the last eight weeks, and we’re really at the most accelerated growth in our company’s history,” Keyserling boasted.

FUBOTV

The New York-based virtual MVPD startup has raised more than $151 million in private funding from investors including Scripps, Sky and AMC.

Slogging it out against huge rivals backed by publicly traded telecom and tech giants, including Sling TV, DirecTV Now, Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV, in the low-margin vMVPD business, not having to endure quarterly earnings reports has been an advantage for FuboTV early on, CEO David Gandler told MCN in an interview conducted late last year, as the company was expanding operations to Spain.

Like the aforementioned streaming startups, FuboTV has kept its name steadily in the news this year. And it doesn’t want us to call it a pivot away from the vMVPD business, but FuboTV’s latest news all centers around Fubo Sports Network, a soccer and niche-sports themed 24-hour news channel that FuboTV itself has compared to Cheddar, the 24-hour digital channel that was recently purchased by Altice USA for $200 million. The channel is available on FuboTV, but also via the Roku Channel and Samsung smart TVs.

Speaking to Business Insider recently, Gandler admitted it'll be tough for FuboTV to stay independent. "It's tough in a sector that's skewed by M&A to take that off the table,” he said.

CURIOSITYSTREAM

Founded in 2015 by John Hendricks, the former Discovery Channel architect who once pioneered the basic cable universe, nature-documentary-themed SVOD service CuriosityStream has been privately funded with $254.7 million to date.

Announcing a $140 million funding round in February, CEO Clint Stinchcomb said the service reached 1 million paying subscribers at the end of 2018, and now has library content with more than 2,000 titles. By the end of this year, CuriosityStream expected its viewers will be able to choose from more than 3,000 titles including more exclusive originals available in 4K.

Stinchcomb said in May that CuriosityStream expects to have “several million" subscribers by the end of 2019, which would be a substantial increase over the 1 million it finished 2018 with. 

Skinny bundled virtual pay TV service Philo announced the debut today of apps for Android mobile devices, as well as Amazon Fire Tablets.

The San Francisco-based start-up offers a selection of 58 live-streamed entertainment-focused cable channels, including AMC, A&E, BET, Comedy Central, Discovery, HGTV, MTV, Nickelodeon and Food Network, for $20 a month.

It was already available on the open internet via popular browsers like Chrome, Safari, Edge and Firefox, as well as through OTT devices including Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV.

Philo is privately funded to the tune of $83.2 million, with its content suppliers—Viacom, Discovery and Scripps among them—being the backers.

The virtual MVPD has not disclosed how many subscribers it has at this point. 

San Francisco virtual MVPD startup Philo has told its customers that it will stop offering its bottom-end, $16-a-month, 40-channel package to new customers.

Starting May 6, new signups will only have access to Philo’s higher 58-channel, $20-a-month package. The company will maintain the $16-a-month package for existing customers.

“We didn’t want to do that,” Philo CEO Andrew McCollum said in a note to customers.

He added, “When we looked at all of the costs of operating Philo—which increase over time—consolidating into a single $20 package was the best way for us to maintain the same offering we have today without raising prices for everyone, or having to cut back in places we strive to excel, like our customer support.”

Related: Philo Touts FreeWheel, Xandr, SpotX Among Advanced Ad Partners

Philo includes no live sports or news, and its channels primarily include the networks of its four media company investors—A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Discovery and Viacom.

The move basically constitutes a price increase for what is still the cheapest live-streamed virtual pay TV service. The move follows recent price bumps by DirecTV Now, Sling TV, YouTube TV and fuboTV.

All of these streaming skinny-bundled services are coming to terms with fast-rising programming costs. In addition to raising prices, these services are investing in advanced advertising to try to improve margins.

It was just last week that Philo announced a roster of its advanced advertising technology vendors, a list that included FreeWheel, Premion, Roku, SpotX, Telaria, Xandr and Verizon Media.

Virtual MVPD Philo said it’s working with Comcast’s FreeWheel for ad management, and serving and decisioning, as well as a range of other advanced advertising partners including Premion, Roku, SpotX, Telaria, Xandr and Verizon Media.

“We’re partnering with best-in-class SSPs and DSPs, and we’ve aligned with content partners to provide a consistent, brand-safe programming environment,” said Reed Barker, head of advertising at Philo. “As a result, we’re able to offer an elegant, sophisticated advertising solution to agencies and brands to accompany a TV experience consumers love.”

Philo bundles 45 channels, including A&E, AMC, Discovery and a range of Viacom networks, for an industry-low $16 a month. Philo remains the only vMVPD at this point not to have announced a significant monthly price increase for its users.

Like other vMVPDs, the San Francisco startup is looking to advanced advertising to make its business profitable.

Philo hasn’t put out a subscriber number in quite a while. A Strategy Analytics ranking of vMVPDs published last summer pegged the low-cost vMVPD service at around 150,000 users. 

Philo has announced its deployment on Android TV, Google’s fast-growing OTT platform.

Android TV is a version of Google’s Android operating system designed for digital media players. In May, Google reported that Android TV users had doubled year over year, with a number of pay TV operators in Europe starting to deploy the platform on slimline set-tops.

As with all apps deployed on Android TV, users can download the Philo app via the Google Play store.

Related: Law&Crime Finds Home on Philo

Meanwhile, San Francisco-based start-up Philo has made a number of changes to its Apple apps.

For iOS, which runs on iPhones and iPads, the virtual MVPD has added new navigation features, as well as the ability to create user profiles.

And for Apple TV, Philo has launched a new guide experience it says improves navigation and discovery.

Philo, meanwhile, has also kicked off a promotion that lets users pay the same price for its premium 50+ channel service as they do for the base $16-a-month, 40-channel Philo package, for six months. The premium package regularly goes for $20 a month.

Philo hasn’t released a subscriber number in quite a while. In October, Strategy Analytics pegged its total distribution at around 150,000 users. The vMVPD market has recently slowed its growth, with market leaders Sling TV and DirecTV Now each reporting reduced subscriber acquisition in recent quarters. 

The Law&Crime channel will appear on national TV streaming service Philo’s lineup as part of an agreement announced Tuesday between the two parties.

The service, which provides live gavel-to-gavel coverage of trials throughout the country, will be offered a part of Philo’s 50+ channel package, which retails at $20 per month, according to network officials.

“Philo is focused on building a better television experience for subscribers to watch the channels and programming they love at an affordable price,” said Mike Keyserling, Philo COO and head of content acquisition in a statement. “We’re excited to bring Law&Crime Network’s informative live trial coverage and original programming to our subscribers who already love this genre, as crime-based shows often top our most popular programming.”

Added Law & Crime CEO Dan Abrams: ”Philo really understands how distinct and compelling our live programming and network is and we admire how Philo has so quickly become a major disruptor in the space. We are thrilled to be launching on this platform.”

Virtual MVPD Philo is adding three networks to its "premium" $20-a-month tier, which now includes 50 channels.

The additions include aspireTV, Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s lifestyle channel focused on the icons and trendsetters of black culture; Revolt, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ hip-hop-themed network targeted to Gen Z audiences; and UPtv, a family-oriented network featuring hit archival TV shows such as Gilmore Girls, Home Improvement and America’s Funniest Home Videos, was well as PG-rated and safer box-office hits of yesteryear.

Related: Philo Unleashes Entertainment-Focused OTT TV Service

The additions come as Philo nears its one-year mark. The channels are added to the operator’s premium tier, which includes A&E, AMC, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, Lifetime, Logo, MTV Live, Nick Toons, TLC, Travel Channel, VH1 and Viceland. 

Philo, the entertainment-focused OTT TV service, has expanded its baseline package via the addition of three digital streaming channels – Cheddar Big News, PeopleTV and Tastemade.

RELATED: Philo Unleashes Entertainment-Focused OTT TV Service

Cheddar Big News is a new channel from Cheddar emphasizing the day's headlines. PeopleTV, formerly known as The People/Entertainment Weekly Network, features originals and specials from People and Entertainment Weekly. Tastemade is a streaming channel with shows and content focused on food, home, and travel lifestyles.

RELATED: People/Entertainment Weekly Network Becomes ‘PeopleTV’

Philo joins other virtual MVPDs that have begun to add digital channels to lineups that also feature more traditional TV channels.

RELATED: Cheddar Launches on YouTube TV, Debuts New Channel

Cheddar Big News, Tastemade and PeopleTV join Philo’s base package that costs $16 per month and a lineup that includes networks such as A&E, AMC, BBC America, Discovery Channel, Food Network, Lifetime, MTV, VH1 and Viceland, among others. The additions expands Philo’s base package to 40 channels.

Philo also sells a $4 add-on package that includes nine additional channels: American Heroes Channel, BET Her, Cooking Channel, Destination America, Discovery Family, Discovery Life, Logo, MTV Live, and Nicktoons.

Philo launched its national OTT TV service last November. The service has not announced a subscriber figure, but this week launched a referral program that offers a $5 credit for each referral and a $5 credit to the person they refer to the Philo service. Philo said there’s no limit to the amount of credit subscribers can earn.

“Philo is simply a better way to watch TV, and with the addition of Cheddar Big News, PeopleTV and Tastemade, we are thrilled to add even more value for our subscribers,” Andrew McCollum, Philo’s CEO, said in a statement. “We built Philo for everyone who feels like TV was no longer serving them, and this is one more way we can stand apart.”

Philo, the entertainment-OTT TV service, recently booted up a promo that offers new subscribers three free months of the Pandora Premium.  

The six-month promotion, for new and existing paying Philo customers, runs through October 26, “or until code quantities are exhausted.” 

Philo’s baseline package of 37 channels runs $16 per month, or $20 per month with an add-on package that pushes the lineup to 46 channels. The ad-free Pandora Premium service sells for $9.99 per month.  

RELATED: Hulu Sparks Spotify Bundle

Philo, which cut its teeth on IP-delivered multiscreen services for college campuses, launched its national OTT TV service last November.  

RELATED: Philo Unleashes Entertainment-Focused OTT TV Service 

Philo has raised about $51 million, with backers that include A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Discovery, Scripps and Viacom, New Enterprise Associates, Rho Ventures, XFund, HBO, CBC New Media Group, and Mark Cuban’s Radical Investments. 

Philo, the entertainment-focused OTT TV service, said it has opened access to TV Everywhere apps and websites for most of the networks in its lineup.  

TVE support for OWN’s authenticated TVE apps and site will be coming soon.  

Philo subs can tap into programmer-run TVE offerings using their login credentials.  

After an initial focus on multiscreen TV services for college campuses, Philo branched off in November with a national virtual MVPD service that starts at $16 for a lineup of more than 35 channels, along with a mix of add-on packages. Philo users can access up to three simultaneous streams per account and set up profiles for individual users.  

RELATED: Philo Unleashes Entertainment-Focused OTT TV Service 

Philo’s national OTT TV service is currently supported on web browsers, iOS and Android mobile devices, and Roku players and Roku TVs. Support for Apple TV and Amazon Fire devices is slated for this summer.  

Philo, which is working on the integration of a bevy of social features, has raised about $51 million, with backers that include A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Discovery, Scripps and Viacom, New Enterprise Associates, Rho Ventures, XFund, HBO, CBC New Media Group, and Mark Cuban’s Radical Investments. 

RELATED: Five Spot: Andrew McCollum (subscription required)  

AMC Networks reported higher fourth-quarter earnings as benefits from the new tax law helped offset lower income and revenue at its U.S. cable networks.

Net income was $146 million, or $2.33 per share, up from $14 million, or 20 cents a share. The earnings included a $67.9 million benefit from the new corporate tax law. The programmer also gained $11 million by repatriating foreign earnings.

Related: AMC Networks Offers to Buy RLJ Entertainment for $60M

Revenue fell 0.4% to $727 million.

At AMC’s national networks, including AMC, WE tv, Sundance, IFC and BBC America, operating income was down 6.5% to $176 million.

Revenue fell 1.3% to $606 million at the national networks. Distribution revenue was up 6.8% but advertising revenue was down 9.9% to $269 million because of lower delivery of viewers.

Programming and other expenses were up, including a $38 million writeoff for programming assets.

"AMC Networks delivered record financial results in 2017, increasing net revenues and adjusted operating income for the seventh consecutive year since becoming a public company, and generating significant free cash flow that we are using to invest in key strategic initiatives and our networks," said CEO Josh Sapan.

Related: BritBox Crosses 250K Sub Mark

"Our recent distribution deals with the streaming services fuboTV and Philo make AMC Networks available on more virtual MVPDS than any other independent programmer, proving the value of our discrete brands and our desirable, high-quality content,” Sapan said.

“Our owned streaming services Sundance Now and Shudder are seeing healthy subscriber growth and their momentum, coupled with the growth of the other streaming services we have invested in, including Acorn TV, Urban Movie Channel, and the BBC and ITV's Britbox, highlights consumer demand for subscription streaming services with specialized content," he added. "As we continue to evolve and adapt in a world of changing viewer consumption habits, we believe AMC Networks occupies a position of unique strength and are confident that our size, our focus, and our portfolio of assets will enable us to continue to deliver strong financial results to our shareholders."

Philo, the new entertainment-focused OTT TV service, is “open” to the idea of adding local broadcast channels to its mix, so long as a deal allows Philo to retain the flexibility of its pay TV model, company CEO Andrew McCollum said in an Ask Me Anything session today on Reddit.

“We've spoken to them [the broadcasters] many times, and we're definitely open to adding them to the service, but we aren't going to do it if we can't preserve the flexibility and value that we think consumers,” McCollum wrote.

Those comments come about a month after Philo moved ahead with the national launch of a sports-free OTT TV service that starts at $16 per month and features channels from programmers such as A+E Networks, AMC, Discovery Communications, Scripps Networks Interactive and Viacom.

RELATED: Philo Unleashes Entertainment-Focused OTT TV Service

He later added that most Philo subs are leaning toward the baseline offering of 37 channels, but has seen some opt for its 46-channel package, which sells for $20 per month.

“We were surprised at the split being closer than we expected,” McCollum said.

Several Reddit users pressed the company on when it would extend its service to platforms such as Fire TV, Android TV and Google Chromecast (its service is currently offered on web browsers, Roku players, iOS devices, and via Chrome on Android devices, with a native Android app in the wings.).

McCollum declined to discuss specific timeframes. “We are a small team, and we really wanted to get the product in people's hands so we had to prioritize for the launch. I can't promise a date but soon!” he explained with respect to support for more platforms.

He did note that Apple TV “is a little easier” for Philo because “it’s a shorter jump from iOS, where we already have a native app.”

McCollum also opened the door to the idea of offering sports and news packages through add-ons. “[If we can do it in a way that gives people flexibility, we're very open to it. Of course, some of these options are already available to stream directly from the leagues,” he said.

One of Philo’s early hallmarks is a friction-free way for customers to sign up for the service, as they only need to provide their mobile phone number to get started. As part of other efforts to provide more payment options, Philo, he said, recently started to accept prepaid debit cards.

On the TV Everywhere front, McCollum said Philo is also testing a system that will let its subscribers log in and use the apps of programming partners, with plans to launch that capability “early next year.”

Offering a new spin on the virtual MVPD, Philo has pushed ahead with the anticipated, national launch of an entertainment-focused, sports-free OTT TV service that features channels from programmers that include A+E Networks, AMC, Discovery Communications, Scripps Networks Interactive and Viacom.

RELATED: Discovery to Buy Scripps Networks for $14.6 billion

Philo’s service, which will weave in a raft of social features in early 2018, starts at $16 for a lineup of more than 35 channels and an add-on package that costs an additional $4 per month for an additional nine channels (Philo’s full channel lineup is listed further below).

Philo allows up to three simultaneous streams per account, and the ability for users to set up individual profiles.

The company expects that consumers who want access to major local broadcast TV feeds will use other means, such as over-the-air TV antennas, and complement the service with Netflix and other OTT options.

“That gives you a lot of options to create TV package that makes sense for you,” Andrew McCollum, Philo’s CEO, said.

Philo’s service also includes a cloud DVR that stores unlimited shows and movies for up to 30 days, along with a VOD library and a Lookback component provides access to shows that have aired within the past three days. In addition to showing what’s on now and in the future, Philo’s guide will also let users go back to see what aired within the past few hours.  

Philo’s OTT service is initially supported on web browsers, Roku players, iOS devices, and via Chrome on Android devices. It expects to add more TV-connected platforms as well as a dedicated app for Android.

Focused on Being Friction-Free

Philo, which is offering one-week free trials of its new service, is also looking to take all the friction out of service sign ups by simplifying that process.

Consumers who want to join only need to supply their mobile phone number. In exchange, Philo will text them a code they can input to start using the product right away without requiring them to provide a billing address or credit card number.

The new direct-to-consumer OTT TV service expands Philo’s business, which previously had been centered on the delivery of live TV, VOD and cloud DVR services to college students in partnership with several universities, including Auburn, Duke, Harvard, Stanford, Michigan, and the University of Alabama. Philo expects to be teamed up with more than 75 schools by the end of the year.

RELATED: Philo Tunes in More Than 40 Universities

The emergence of Philo’s sports-free skinny TV bundle has been hinted at for months by programming execs such as Viacom CEO Bob Bakish and Discovery CEO David Zaslav.

RELATED: Zaslav: Sports-Free Skinny Bundles Will Come

Though Philo’s approach with the skinny bundle appears to be targeting a subsection of consumers who don’t watch (or don’t want to pay) for live sports, it will face off with traditional pay TV providers and a growing array of virtual MVPDs that include Sling TV, PS Vue, YouTube TV, Hulu and fuboTV, which has developed a package that uses sports programming as its centerpiece.

RELATED: Sports-Free Streaming Bundle Closer to Launch

OTT Rights Opening Up

McCollum noted that Philo (a name inspired by TV pioneer Philo T. Farnsworth, and a company formerly known as Tivli) originally set out about six years ago to improve the TV experience on college campuses, but noted that a national OTT version of the service wasn’t possible at the time because it was difficult then to acquire the streaming rights. That’s all changed as content owners warmed up to the idea amid a shift in the pay TV market that includes a growing cord-cutting trend.

He said Philo and its partners realized there’s an opportunity to create an entertainment-focused package at an affordable price that cuts out sports networks.

Additionally, Philo’s agreements with programmers is more “open” and flexible with respect to data, he said, noting that Philo will be sharing that information with those partners in a way that, they hope, will provide more guidance on shows and other programming that resonate with consumers that fall into Philo’s category.

That data-driven model will also help to power another tenet of Philo’s approach.

Social Features Coming in Early 2018

“We want to build first social television product,” explained McCollum, an exec who was on the founding team at Facebook.

TV, he said, is one of the most social mediums in existence, but most of those products don’t emphasize it in terms of how it’s integrated into the social media fabric.

Early next year, Philo will add opt-in features that focus on social interaction between subscribers that, for example, will allow them to share what they are watching and discover what shows are popular with other people in their social circle. The system will also let subs control what TV viewing is visible to others who are in their social networks.

“The social network is the most powerful recommendation engine in existence,” McCollum said.

To facilitate conversations about a show, Philo will also provide a way for people in their social network to synchronize viewing.

Younger age groups, he added, “are used to sharing everything in their life on Snapchat and Instagram.”

McCollum said Philo intends to focus some of its efforts on consumers who are just getting out of college, adding that 90%-plus of Philo’s subs on college campuses said they’d want to keep the service after they left school.

McCollum said Philo is getting access to ad avails that’s typical of other MVPDs.

Philo has raised about $51 million, with backers that include A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Discovery, Scripps and Viacom, New Enterprise Associates, Rho Ventures, XFund, HBO, CBC New Media Group, and Mark Cuban’s Radical Investments.

The San Francisco-based company has about 35 employees.

Philo’s Starting Lineup

A&E

AMC

Animal Planet

AXS TV

BBC America

BBC World News

BET

Cheddar

CMT

Comedy Central

Discovery Channel

DIY

Food Network

FYI

HGTV

History

IFC

ID

Lifetime

Lifetime Movie Network

MTV

MTV2

Nickelodeon

Nick Jr.

OWN

Science

Spike

Sundance Channel

TeenNick

TLC

Travel Channel

TV Land

Velocity

VH1

Viceland

We TV

$4 Add-On Package:

American Heroes Channel

BET Her

Cooking Channel

Destination America

Discovery Family

Discovery Life

Logo

MTV Live

Nicktoons

Philo is nowhere near the size of Comcast, but the scrappy startup has managed to stay a step ahead when it comes to notching IP-powered, multiscreen on-campus video deals with universities and colleges.

Heading into the new school year, Philo said it has added 15 new schools to the mix, extending its total past 40. Those joining the mix include Clemson University, University of Houston, University of North Carolina Asheville, University or South Florida, University of Texas El Paso, University of Utah, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Washington State University (see below for the full list of Philo-powered universities).

Philo’s announcement comes on the heels of one from Comcast, which said that it now has 27 schools signed on for Xfinity On Campus, its IP-based multiscreen offering tailored for college students.

Philo’s platform delivers live TV and network DVR services, and access to TV Everywhere services such as HBO Go, to students over the school’s on-campus network, and supports several platforms, including Web browsers, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones, Roku players, and the Apple TV (via AirPlay).

Philo noted that it has launched a redesign of its Roku app (pictured) that will feature enhanced search and DVR functionality. It has also spruced up its Web, iOS and Android apps to allow for improved search, and a new home page that shows recent DVR recordings, shows that are trending on campus, upcoming popular shows.

San Francisco-based Philo (formerly known as Tivli) was founded in 2010, and secured a $10 million “B” round earlier this year led by New Enterprise Associates. It’s led by CEO Andrew McCollum, who was a founding member of the Facebook team.

McCollum said computers/browsers are Philo’s most widely used platform, noting that 20% to 30% of students only bring a TV to campus. However, Roku users tend to consume the most video, he said.

Though a lot of schools still rely on more traditional bulk TV deals, he said a growing number of schools are making the leap and writing RFPs, including some that are "calling out the Philo service by name." 

Here’s the full list of Philo partner schools:

-Auburn University

-Brown University

-Bucknell University

-Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo

-Clemson University

-CSU Monterey Bay

-CSU Sacramento

-DePaul University

-Duke University

-Elon University

-Fordham University

-Fort Hays State University

-Harvard University

-Jackson College

-Lawrence Technological University

-Lubbock Christian University

-Marshall University

-Miami University of Ohio

-Mount St. Mary's University

-North Carolina Central University

-Pepperdine University

-Rice University

-Roanoke College

-Sacred Heart University

-Sheridan College

-Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania

-Stanford University

-SUNY University at Stony Brook

-Texas A&M University

-Trinity University

-UNC Asheville

-University of Alabama

-University of Houston

-University of Michigan

-University of South Florida

-University of Texas El Paso

-University of Utah

-University of Washington

-Virginia Commonwealth

-Washington State University

-Wesleyan University

-William Paterson University of New Jersey