From NY Times; sorry if already posted
August 20, 2007, 12:00 am
A Fourth Way to Deliver TV to the Home
By Brad Stone
Tags: Building B, digital television
One of the most covert startups in Silicon Valley, the temporarily named Building B, is lifting its head up today to announce a round of funding. Though executives at the Belmont, Calif., company still aren’t saying much about their plans, they appear to have sizable ambitions: Building B is aiming to bring both television and other media content, restyled for the Internet age, into your living room in competition with your cable, satellite or telco’s IPTV service.
Today, Building B announces a $17 million round of funding by venture capital firms Morgenthaler Ventures, Index Ventures, Omni Capital and private investors. Andy Lack, the chairman of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, is joining its board of directors. The 14 month-old company was started by longtime investor and entrepreneur Buno Pati and Phil Wiser, the former chief technology officer of Sony Corporation of America. Last week, they offered a few details about their plans.
The company appears to be developing an entirely new experience for the home television. By the end of the year they will start selling a set-top box, either through partners or in retail. The box plugs into your television, in the same dusty space where your cable or satellite box used to chug away.
The service, as I understood it, will get both the popular channels as well as the more niche fare (like overseas cricket matches or user-generated videos) that is now delivered over the Internet. Behind the scenes, the service is a hybrid. It will receive the major channels in high-definition through wireless broadcasts (think rabbit ears). The company won’t say how they’ll broadcast this content, but since the small firm does not own any spectrum itself, one possibility is that Building B plans to lease digital spectrum from local television stations.
Meanwhile, the Building B device will receive less popular content over a broadband Internet connection. Movies, old TV shows, perhaps even music will also be available on demand and delivered in this way as well.
“We see ourselves as delivering the next generation of television without forcing consumers to walk over to the PC to get access to it,” Mr. Wiser said.
“The biggest advantage we have is an advantage that every startup has – no legacy,” Mr. Pati added. “We were able to ask ourselves, if we were to put together a video entertainment solution today, what would it look like?”
The company may not go directly to retailers with the service. The founders hinted the service would be a perfect “video companion” for ISPs or telcos who have not yet made big IPTV investments but are looking to offer comprehensive “triple play” packages to customers. Expect to hear more from Building B this fall.
AI
