TV on demand - in the palm of your hand
Published Monday March 23rd, 2009
Breakthru Innovation Foundation nominee hopes to change the way you watch television
A New Brunswick company is looking to change the way we watch television.
TVNow, the creation of Saint John native Andrew Tidby, is poised to become the world's first mobile, video-on-demand application for smartphones such as the Blackberry, iPhone, Nokia and Palm.
"There's a shift of mobile content, and I believe it's the future of how we're going to be watching television," Tidby said. "Producers across Canada have had their shows cancelled, but it's not because the shows are bad. It's because there's no money. People are downloading shows now, so less and less people have cable subscriptions. So for advertisers, it's just not worth it anymore."
Some estimates have Apple's App Store bringing in $150 million in revenues last year, while the addition of app stores from Blackberry, Nokia and Palm could boost sales to nearly $800 million this year.
Meahwhile, Tidby's company - which will soon join that market by allowing smartphone users to access high-resolution, specialty video on demand in the palm of their hands - has already been noticed by the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation. The start-up has been named one of the six finalists in the NBIF's Breakthru business plan competition, a contest that rewards provincial entrepreneurs.
The winner of the competition will receive $250,000 in venture capital, as well as mentoring and professional support.
Phase one of Tidby's plan is to focus on instructional videos
"For example, we have a cooking series," he said. "So, it's going to be like having a cookbook and a TV series in your pocket."
If you're interested in making lasagna, for instance, you could click on the appropriate section.
Instantly a list of ingredients would appear, and a two or three minute video would start to play telling you exactly what you need to do.
Tidby also cites bartending or drink mixing as another example.
"You can mix any martini you want," he said. "We'll have a guy come on saying 'you want to make a chocolate martini? Ok, this is what you'll need and this is how you put it together."
Eventually the company will expand into travel applications, and will include every major tourist country on the planet.
Do you want to go to Italy?
Download the Italian application and it will have every tourist destination site that Italy has to offer.
If you're interested in going to the leaning tower of Pisa, it will give you a five-minute video on the entire history of Pisa, plus information about the hours of operation and cost of admission. It can also pinpoint where you are and draw you a map to get there.
Phase two, Tidby said, is to branch out to include entertainment programming.
"What's going to happen sooner rather than later," he said, "is that if you want to watch Family Guy or Lost, you just punch it into your phone and watch it there, or have it beamed directly to your television through your phone."
Tidby said TVNow will partner with the National Film Board of Canada, so that users can watch any of their short movies, anytime, anywhere.
He also hopes to engage the BBC and the Sundance Film Festival, so viewers can have access to international programming and independent films.
There's also a deal in the works with Fox Sports.
"What we're going to be doing is offering live-streamed sporting events," Tidby said.
"Let's say you can't make it to the hockey game, or you're stuck in traffic and can't get to the baseball game yet, but you don't want to miss any part of it. Our application will have every game being played that day."
Tidby said although we're in a recession, people will still spend .99 cents on an application for their phone. But one problem is that once a game gets made, it gets lost in the ocean of games.
"When it comes to what we're doing, nobody else has this," Tidby said. "So we'll be automatically put right to the top of the list.
The Breakthru's final competition is on March 25, and includes a 15-minute presentation to a selection committee followed by a 15- minute question and answer period, with the winners being announced that evening at an awards banquet.
The grand prize winner will receive $100,000 in equity investment with $25,000 in-kind professional services.
The second-place winner and the best start-up by an entrepreneur under 35 years old will each receive $50,000 capital investment and $10,000 in services.
"I love this province for things like this," said Tidby, who has lived in New York, Los Angeles, Paris and London. "Over there, things like this don't happen, innovation funds like this. This is fun. "It's like a game and it's really helped me do stuff I would have had to gotten done anyway."
"I'm honoured to be included with these people, because there are some ideas here that can change lives."
Disabled
Search Articles
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
