Zillion TV offers premium VoD content for free
New online video start-up makes bold claims
There's a zillion (sorry!) IPTV providers on the web at the moment, so for a new one to grab the headlines some bold claims have to be made.
Enter Zillion TV, the new online video service that wants to be the biggest in the world - or at least in the US for now.
Although the site is merely showing a 'stay tuned' holding page at the moment, the company has released information that's the very definition of hyperbole.
Essentially Zillion TV is a VoD demand service that requires the use of a set-top box, where you can watch ad-assisted shows for free or rent and buy movies and TV shows for a subscribed fee. It is being billed as "personalised TV to the consumer over a broadband connection to the TV."
Major companies on board
Although some big names are behind the US-only venture – Warner, Universal, Fox and Disney are all said to be on-board – and 15,000 titles will be available on-demand at launch, there's no actual mention of what titles will be available.
"This is all about TV. This is not about bringing the internet into the television, this is more about providing a more entertaining television experience," said chief engineer Mike Catalano in a statement. "We believe there is a fundamental difference between the 'hunt and seek' mode that people go to the internet in, and the passive/watching mode they're in when they're watching television."
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And re-iterate just how big this IPTV venture is, Catalano explained: "If you could imagine the daunting task of trying to secure all the content that's ever been made in the world, that's what we're attempting to do.
"We're literally building the largest content ingest system, for television, as far as we know, that has ever been built."
Will it work?
Even though the announcement came out very recently, Zillion TV already has a number of naysayers.
Website BroadcastingCable.com is "sceptical" about the announcement, while IndieWire has called the service "yet another option joining this realm".
Only time, and a bit more info on exactly what shows and films will be on the service, will tell if Zillion TV can revolutionise IPTV. At least its CEO has high hopes, with CNBC quoting Berman that Zillion TV will be a $1 billion service in three years.
But then it would quote that, as NBC is one of the partner companies already signed up.
Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.