Sezmi defines itself

Last week in Las Vegas, Sezmi conducted live demonstrations of its wholesale broadband television service. Fierce got a first-hand look at what Sezmi does, and what it intends to do.  

The company has generated considerable buzz by offering a service that is part next-generation TiVo, part hybrid digital TV datacasting, and part IPTV. The sum of the parts is intriguing and will be market tested later this year.

Sezmi's business model is to provide a wholesale, white-label, end-to-end TV service to phone companies and broadband service providers. Sezmi handles licensing with movie studios and TV broadcasters, aggregating content, distributing it via satellite to local markets, and broadcasting live streams via digital TV datacasting to the consumers. The company also handles billing with the appropriately customized logo at the top.

The value proposition to the consumer is straightforward. Sezmi will offer the "Best of TV and the Internet in a seamless manner" with a more affordable for-pay TV subscription offering than competitors, delivering better navigation tools and better on-demand content. 

Sezmi starts with a clean slate with hardware that can be self-installed by the consumer to his TV set(s). On top of the hardware media server goes easy-to-use applications to add personalization and intelligence to more quickly discover interesting content. Finally, the system leverages broadband combined with DTV datacasting to deliver "the best of both worlds," with the interactivity of broadband and the multicasting/mass delivery capability of broadcast that can't currently be duplicated with traditional Internet technology.

Leveraging the DTV network requires some fine-tuning to deliver a turn-key solution. A smart antenna array - basically a box filled with antennas and electronics to process signals - has been developed to tune in digital TV signals. Excess DTV capacity is purchased on a per-market basis and the capacity is used to broadcast Sezmi data within a particular city.

Several tiers of Sezmi service will be available, ranging from simply buying the hardware and receiving the typical "free" on-air DTV broadcasts, along with an on-demand option to other tiers with more complete offerings including pay TV channels.

Personalization comes in the form of individualized profiles for each TV user in the household. This delivers a more customized experience for each TV watcher, but also provides deeper demographic and viewing information for advertisers.

Investors have bought into Sezmi's pitch, ponying up three rounds of capital, with the latest -- $33 million - in November 2008.

Will it sell? Sezmi will find out later this year as it rolls into consumer trials in one or more markets. The company's greatest challenge may be convincing tight-wallet customers that Sezmi is a viable TV alternative to existing cable and/or telco offerings.

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