The Ruckus Room

Slingbox Killer or New Model for TVs Future?

•

An unknown startup in Silicon Valley/China (take your pick), TVU Networks, is trying to change the world of TV broadcasting as we know it. We kid you not!

The nascent service effectively obviates the need for a Slingbox (sort of but not entirely) by allowing users to download a free piece of software (it's ultra simple with literally nothing to configure) that lets them access live TV channels being broadcasted on the Internet.

TVU maintains no network but rather leverages the Internet to provide global reach for broadcasted live TV. They fancy themselves as the SKYPE or Vonage equivalent in the TV arena. They say that simply through "viral marketing" (i.e. Internet gossip) over 6 million of their client players have been downloaded. Click on the image to see their free user interface.

They also provides FREE server-side software that lets anyone create their own channel by broadbasting live content on the Internet through their servers. With a video capture card, a camera and this software you can create your own personal TV channel and effectively broadcast it (through the TVU system) for free on the Internet. It's simply wild.

Crudely speaking, think of it like a peer-to-peer Internet TV service. Now broadcasters, for very little money, can use the Internet to extend their reach, insert ads, and target content and advertising based on specific demographics or geographic regions anywhere in the world. They retain rights on pricing, ad insertion, regional coverage, and anti-priracy protection.

So what's stopping someone from re-broadcasting copywrited content on the Internet?  Folks who download the server sofware must register it and TVU can kick them off as channel if the do anything illegal or provide illicit live content. TVU makes money through a certain cut of advertising that the broadcaster gets if the broadcaster is using the TVU Network service.

Again, we have nothing to do with these guys, but we think what they are doing is profound and will have a profound impact on changing the way the world consumes live TV.

Wi-Fi Everywhere

We just received and started testing this new T-Mobile dual-mode (Wi-Fi/GSM) service that they are currently offering in Seattle. 

We had to actually go to Seattle to purchase a Samsung phone and get a T-Mobile account.  But, despite some weird technical things that they did (relative to how traffic is handled and marked) it works - even in Sunnyvale.

Basically you tell the phone what SSIDs to look for and the phone uses the Wi-Fi network to make a connection to a UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) controller somewhere on the Internet.  UMA is a standard that allows seamless roaming and handover between local area networks and wide area networks.  It essentially encapsulates GSM within the IP protocol.The UMA controller interfaces with T-Mobile's backbone network. 

Doing this takes pressure off the GSM network and effectively puts it on the Internet - theoretically giving users more calls for less (although right now it's $20 extra for the service). The marketing-ese for this "phenomenon" is called Fixed Mobile Convergence.

Now stay with me on this. The big picture here is that the Triple Play (voice, video and data over IP) will quickly move beyond the home to anywhere there is a broadband connection. Believe it or not, the proliferation of Wi-Fi is in its infancy. Carriers want to use Wi-Fi to blanket the planet in order to extend their networks and fill coverage gaps....not to mention that people everywhere are coming to expect a decent Wi-Fi connection wherever they are. They just can't yet get it.

And more and more consumers want it to support more than just Internet access on their laptop.  Voice over IP over Wi-Fi will be one of the first major applications. Here are some things to note:

• Telefonica is currently alpha testing dual-mode phone with employees and has aggressive plans to launch a service this year
• The Cloud is offering a managed Wi-Fi service for enterprises whereby their 7,000 hotspots in the UK, their cellular partner Vodaphone and their metro Wi-Fi networks in four cities give enterprises a big ass footprint to keep employees connected
• TruePhone is developing some very cool software that lets "community members" make free or cheap VoIP  calls on their Wi-Fi phones to any cell phone
• HelloSoft, a Silicon Valley startup, is making VoIP silicon that integrates a Wi-Fi core to radically reduce the cost of making Wi-Fi handsets (down to$10) by 2008
• Nokia is releasing a dozen handsets this year with Wi-Fi built in

And this is just the beginning.