Sezmi unveils TV 2.0 Service

Sezmi -- stealth identity Building B – has gone public with its version of TV 2.0. It plans to offer a version of pay TV through phone companies, ISPs, and retailers. Pricing is supposed to be lower than cable or satellite with a better product. Trials are taking place in undisclosed pilot markets, but no information has been given on distributors or content providers or any details on pricing and availability.

On the other hand, the company has demonstrated a working version of the service with what appears to be production-ready CPE. There’s a set-top box for storing programs and a high-tech indoor antenna to pick up local digital TV channels. Some cable programming will be delivered over-the-air as well, using idle capacity at local TV stations and the rest will be delivered to the set top box through broadband.

Will it work? Others have tried to use digital TV broadcaster idle bandwidth capacity for data or video services, but efforts have not been successful. Sezmi thinks a thousand hours of on-demand video with a combination of time-shifted broadcasts and/or programs pushed to subscribers based on viewing preferences will be a viable alternative to broadcast TV viewing. Customized lists based upon each member of the household and prioritization based on time-of-day are other areas Sezmi hopes will give it a leg up. Advertisers will also get the benefit of highly documented profiles of viewers in order to offer targeted pitches.

For more:
- LA Times thoughtful piece on the Sezmi TV 2.0 announcement
- News.com’s skeptical Sezmi blog.

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