Cable TV cooperative NCTC is pitching a plan to help finance a prospective purchase of bankrupt video technology company MobiTV.
"We believe the best outcome is the continuation of MobiTV," reads a National Cable Television Cooperative proposal, first obtained and reported on by LightReading.
NCTC has proposed contributing as much as $1 million to help fund the purchase of MobiTV.
The company makes app-based technology used by numerous NCTC members, including Vast Broadband, MCTV and EPB of Chattanooga
Emeryville, Calif.-based MobiTV filed for bankruptcy in Delaware in early March, reporting that it lost $34 million last year.
May 7 is currently the deadline for potential MobiTV suitors to enter qualified bids for the company. If multiple bids are put in, an auction would take place on May 12.
MobiTV notified the California Employment Development Department last month that it could shut down by May 2 and lay off all 86 of its employees. But the consultant handling the company’s restructuring said that the EDD filing was merely a requirement of its bankruptcy proceedings, and that it has no plans as of now to cease operations.
In addition to NCTC’s smaller cable operator members, Cable One uses MobiTV tech in its recently launched Sparklight TV video product. More notably, T-Mobile based its recently scuttled TVision service off MobiTV’s tech. T-Mobile has also loaned MobiTV $15.5 million to keep operating as it restructures.
