Latest from Next TV in Zonetv

Why Dynamic Channels Will Be Transformative to TV As We Know It

Jeff Weber, CEO, zone·tv® — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 18:20:00 +0000

Pay-TV penetration is now down to 79% of U.S. TV homes, vs. 84% in 2014, per Leichtman Research Group findings. This means multi-system operators are working overtime to prevent even deeper video-subscriber losses. Among their tasks is to find fresh ways to convince subscribers their packages are more convenient and provide better value.

MSOs have long been innovators – but now they have to innovate more than ever.

I know. I was in their shoes when I oversaw content and advertising for AT&T U-verse.

The digital revolution has taught us that consumers embrace at least some level of personalization. Netflix has successfully challenged the existing “TV” ecosystem by recommending content to subscribers based on their viewing habits.

And here’s something else I’ve learned from observing trends in TV-consumption habits: Consumers, toggling among more and more screens, want their “TV” content aggregated. The question for our industry is, “What does aggregation look like going forward?” Because much of where we’re headed flows from that question.

Helping spur the cord-cutting wave is the explosion of increasingly high-quality long-form digital video content available on a variety of platforms. But discovering this content among the sea of options is the challenge. A particular consumer’s ideal package of video content, whether digital-first or from a “traditional” TV source, may be out there somewhere; the consumer just has to find it — or it has to find the consumer.

In this new world, MSOs have to boil their thinking down to “the 5 Cs”: consumers, connecting, content, community and, consequently, commerce.

What if high-quality digital content — the type of which might be luring subscribers away from MSOs — can be packaged up into an easy-to-use personalized viewing experience consumers can access directly from the electronic program guide? The convenience and availability of engaging content could provide subscribers with a value proposition that might persuade them to stick with a traditional pay-TV service. MSOs would be able to open additional revenue streams with minimal risk by diversifying their content offerings and possibly decreasing subscriber loss.

Which takes me to my current role, as CEO of zone·tv®. The company already is a leading provider of SVOD content; selections of zone·tv’s diverse programming can be seen on AT&T U-verse, Comcast, DIRECTV, CenturyLink, TELUS, Bell Canada, Frontier Communications and others.

But today, we’re taking the television experience a quantum leap forward with our recent debut of an entirely new form of television programming: zone·tv Dynamic Channels, which will be available via affiliated MVPDs and vMVPDs.

This group of 14 individual linear-like TV channels will deliver human-curated digital-first content that is augmented with artificial intelligence, to provide a highly personalized viewing experience. If you want to see what these channels are about, you should watch this https://zone.tv/zone·tv-dynamic-channels-launch/

Twelve of the 14 new channels are segmented by age groups and by genre to super-serve aficionados of programming about food, gaming, specialty sports, outdoor adventure, kids, entertainment and much more. We have acquired 70,000 shows never seen on television to create these new channels, each of which offers multiple simultaneous program choices that transform hard-to-find digital content into easy-to-use, engaging television, accessible via electronic programming guides (EPGs) for easy discovery and with program streams keyed to change on the fly to super-serve viewer preferences.

The result is the first pay-TV programming to utilize artificial intelligence to enhance a linear-like channel — a new cable/satellite content category that offers a personal user experience blending the convenience of linear viewing with the flexibility of on-demand programming.

And most importantly it is truly dynamic in every sense of the word — for consumers, video producers and distributors.

So, back to the “5 Cs.” We’ve already addressed the ideas of connecting consumers with content they want. Here’s where the 5th “C”— commerce— enters the picture.

Zone·tv Dynamic Channels don’t require any new hardware in the home. Consumers use their familiar TV remotes and existing set-top boxes to discover shows and enable features like fast-forward and pause. Affiliates can easily add new content with no disruption to current channel line-ups. Since zone·tv is delivered from the cloud, zone·tv manages the feed: there are no bandwidth management issues for service providers. Affiliates and content providers share in zone·tv’s success through a revenue-sharing model.

The digital revolution brought us on-demand content that allowed consumers to begin to personalize their viewing diet — though with quite a bit of work. We look forward to welcoming partners and consumers in this new revolution to make TV personalization easy.

Zone TV Uses A.I. to Program 14 Linear-Style OTT Channels

Jeff Baumgartner — Mon, 02 Oct 2017 15:56:00 +0000

Zone TV said it has developed and launched 14 linear-style genre-focused channels that can be delivered OTT to set-top boxes and programmed using A.I. techniques.

The new offering fits into Zone TV’s new mix of what it calls “Dynamic Channels” that are curated by real people but augmented with A.I.-based programming that aims to provide a level of personalization.

Zone TV, which has acquired and licensed about 70,000 shows, said a dozen of its first 14 dynamic channels are segmented by age group and genre to “super-serve” consumers interested in topics such as food, gaming, specialty sports and kids content.

The initial slate of dynamic channel from Zone TV include Mancave; Great Outdoors; Motors: Level Up (eSports); Game On (specialty sports); Inform (interviews and documentaries); Brainiac; Expression (dance, comedy, music); Foodies; Styler; Hangout; Playground; My·zone (personalized based on a user’s favorite shows from all Zone TV channels); Zone·tv (a programming sampler of Zone TV’s dynamic channel package).

Zone TV’s plan is to offer those channels within the electronic program guide of MVPD partners.

Zone TV hasn’t announced any launches for its dynamc channels, but it has previously done work with MVPDs such as AT&T/DirecTV, Comcast, CenturyLink, Telus, Bell Canada, and Frontier Communications.

Last week, Zone TV introduced an array of 28 subscription VOD channels that will sell for $4 to $6 per month and complement its strategy around dynamic, linear-style channels.

Integrating OTT services at the set-top level is rapidly becoming table stakes for MVPDs, as they look to shore up their role as a primary content aggregator, because it’s being driven by a mix of competitive forces, including the emergence of virtual MVPDs, Jeff Weber, Zone TV’s CEO, said in a recent interview.

Those forces are “pressuring the satellite and cable operators to move quicker than they might have moved in the past,” he said. “I see it [the integration of OTT services] very clearly as a must-have. If they don’t do anything, they do find themselves in very deep trouble.”

ZoneTV Taps Tech Partners for Curated OTT TV Channels

Jeff Baumgartner — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 16:00:00 +0000

ZoneTV, a "digital-first” video service that’s targeting integrations with MVPD set-tops, said it is working with Ooyala and Microsoft to help it automate and fine-tune the creation of a new lineup of OTT-delivered linear-style TV channels that are set to debut this fall.

ZoneTV said it will underpin that effort with “media lifecycle tools” from Ooyala (its Flex CMS) alongside Microsoft’s Video Indexer (part of Azure’s Cognitive Services platform), for its coming array of “Dynamic Channels.”

ZoneTV said that combo will give it the ability to curate about 6,000 hours of videos “on the fly” to create those channels. Those tools, it added, uses advanced algorithms to characterize content and auto-extract and analyst metadata into genres, and pull topics from speech and text in a way that optimizes the curation process.

RELATED: ZoneTV Goes on Content Hunt

“We’re building the next generation of pay-TV services, so we need next-generation tools. With the combination of Ooyala’s platform and Microsoft’s cognitive computing services, the ZoneTV Programming Studio delivers an unmatched capability to enhance the TV ecosystem and translate into a one-of-a-kind viewer experience,” Jeff Weber, ZoneTV’s CEO, said in a statement.

ZoneTV, formerly known as ES3, initially targeted Mediaroom, the IPTV middleware platform that Ericsson acquired from Microsoft in the fall of 2013 that powers pay TV services from companies such as AT&T, Hawaiian Telecom, Telus, Frontier Communications and CenturyLink. DirecTV, now part of AT&T, was ZoneTV’s first launch partner outside the Mediaroom environment. Comcast also integrated ZoneTV’s “Santa Tracker” app on its X1 platform during the 2016 holidays.

ZoneTV Goes on Content Hunt

Jeff Baumgartner — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 21:20:00 +0000

ZoneTV, a “digital-first” video service that’s targeting integrations with MVPD set-tops, said it will be heading to NATPE next week looking to do some major wheeling and dealing.

ZoneTV, now helmed by former AT&T exec Jeff Weber, said it will be going to the show in Miami looking for 10,000 hours of content it can use toward a planned programming expansion and the coming debut of a service that will enable that content, in genres such as sports, food and lifestyles, to be delivered inside MVPD set-tops and interactive program guides alongside a pay TV operator’s regular content.

The company will be looking to broaden a library of licensed content that already includes fare from sources such as Field and Stream, Saveur and Popular Science. ZoneTV’s focus on set-tops seems to share similarities of others that are trying to integrate OTT content into MVPD guides, including Frequency, a company backed by Liberty Media as well as Wurl, which has announced WideOpenWest, Fidelity Communications and TDS among its pay TV partners.

RELATED: TiVo, Frequency Connect on OTT

DirecTV, now part of AT&T, was ZoneTV’s first launch partner outside the Mediaroom environment. More recently, Comcast integrated ZoneTV’s “Santa Tracker” app on its X1 platform during the holidays.

“NATPE calls itself the ‘forum for new ideas,’ and ZoneTV is all about creating TV’s new delivery models,” Weber said, in a statement. “Our whole programming concept is fresh: developing linear programming formats that pay TV providers can add to their line-ups without having to clear or manage bandwidth for the new content.”

Comcast’s X1 Takes ‘Santa Tracker’ Over-the-Top

Jeff Baumgartner — Tue, 20 Dec 2016 20:34:00 +0000

Comcast confirmed that it has teamed with ZoneTV to offer Santa Tracker, an Internet app that features a slate of Holiday-themed games, movies and sing-alongs on its IP-capable X1 platform.

The Santa Tracker app, delivered to X1 boxes via the Internet as part of some new Holiday-focused enhancements, just recently appeared in the X1's app section.

Among the features, a movies section provides direct access to more than a dozen holiday and Christmas titles, including Elf, The Polar Express, Home Alone, Jingle All The Way, Jack Frost, and A Christmas Story.

There’s also a Radio section with curated Holiday Favorites, Holiday Kids and Smooth Jazz Christmas songs, a Read Along area with more than 15 titles, including A Penguin Story and The Bears We Know, and a collection of games, including Holiday Sparx, Jolly Dropper and Cookie Crumble.

A Sing-Along area offers 35-plus songs in karaoke mode, including Blue Christmas and Auld Lang Syne, from Stingray Digital.

The Santa Tracker launch appears to be ZoneTV’s first foray onto X1, and its second launch on a platform that is not powered by Ericsson Mediaroom. ZoneTV, a TV app specialist headed by former AT&T exec Jeff Weber, recently introduced Santa Tracker on DirecTV’s platform.

RELATED: ZoneTV Lands on DirecTV

Santa Tracker joins a small but growing list of Internet-fed apps to be integrated with X1. Comcast has also tied in Netflix, Pandora and Watchable, Comcast's new ad-based short-form video service. Comcast is also in the process of onboarding Sling TV, Dish Network's OTT-TV service.

More to come...

ZoneTV Lands on DirecTV

Jeff Baumgartner — Mon, 28 Nov 2016 14:00:00 +0000

Marking its first launch on a video platform that is not powered by Ericsson Mediaroom, ZoneTV said it has integrated and debuted its first interactive app on DirecTV’s system.

That app, Santa Tracker, arrives amid the holiday season and is being integrated with DirecTV’s electronic program guide. The app supports several interactive elements and components, including a Christmas Countdown Calendar, Holiday-themed movies, “Rudolph Radio,” multiple games, and English- and Spanish-language read-along books and sign-alongs. On Christmas Eve, the app will also show a global map that children can use to tracks the Santa Claus’s progress.

“Combining elements of on-demand, interactivity into a very robust experience, kids can come back continuously,” Jeff Weber, ZoneTV’s CEO, said, hopeful that Santa Tracker is the first of many apps it will offer on the DirecTV platform.

RELATED: Jeff Weber Named CEO of ZoneTV

ZoneTV, a company formerly known as ES3, got its start by integrating apps with Mediaroom, the IPTV middleware platform that Ericsson acquired from Microsoft in the fall of 2013. In addition to AT&T U-verse TV, ZoneTV also has footholds on Mediaroom-powered video platforms from Telefónica, MTS, Hawaiian Telecom, Telus, Frontier Communications and CenturyLink.

ZoneTV, which notched a $4.1 million seed round led by Best Funds about a year ago, has been pushing ahead on a plan to expand beyond Mediaroom. Its launch on DirecTV, acquired by AT&T in July 2015, is its first launch outside of Mediaroom.

RELATED: AT&T Clinches DirecTV Deal

Weber, an exec who previously helped to lead the U-verse division at AT&T, said the Christmas-themed app can run on DirecTV’s HR44 receiver and above, giving it access to the bulk of the boxes/receivers that have been deployed by the satellite operator.

Weber said ZoneTV’s experience in porting “digital-first” apps and content to the set-top is transferable to a wide range of pay TV operator ecosystems.

ZoneTV hasn’t announced where it intends to land next, but possible candidates could include platforms such as TiVo, Comcast’s X1, as well as the next-gen video serving being developed and deployed by Charter Communications in partnership with ActiveVideo. AT&T is also working on a next-gen architecture (subscription required) that aims to bring unity to its IPTV and satellite TV platforms.

“We’ll be able to play in multiple operating systems,” Weber said. “We have really deep expertise in taking digital content into an operator’s environment,” he added, noting that ZoneTV is in talks with “some of the largest cable providers.”

ZoneTV is also moving ahead on a strategy to create “dynamic channels” that can be integrated with an MVPD’s set-top box-based programming guide. Weber said he expects to have more detail to share at CES 2017, which gets underway in January in Las Vegas.

ZoneTV Notches $4.1M Seed Round

Jeff Baumgartner — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 21:00:00 +0000

ZoneTV, a company focused on bringing “digital first” programming to homes through pay TV partners, said it has closed a $4.1 million “seed” round led by Best Funds.

ZoneTV, formerly known as ES3, recently hired former AT&T exec Jeff Weber as, CEO.

The company initially focused on the TV apps market and is now looking to connect with millennial audiences by blending traditional pay TV and OTT service to drive new advertising and subscription revenue-sharing opportunities. Its partners include AT&T, Telefonica, MTS, Hawaiian Telecom, Telus, Frontier Communications, Bell, and CenturyLink.

“ZoneTV is quietly growing into a dominant player in their field,” said Alan Chettiar, VP of investments at Best Funds, said in a statement. “We believe they are poised to become the essential partner for cable companies looking to lead in the changing entertainment content delivery landscape. We have followed them for a number of years and we are excited to take this next step with Jeff and the team.”

“This investment by Best Funds positions us for a strong finish to 2015,” Weber added. “Our future is exciting as we are leaders in this new category of bringing digital content to Pay TV, have a strong management team in place with a proven track record, a new office location in Silicon Beach to sharpen our focus on digital media, and a strong history of working effectively with leading Pay TV operators to reach millions of homes.”

WCM Capital acted as corporate finance advisor to ZoneTV and arranged the financing with Best.