So we must say farewell then to Narrowstep, a service provider which had the idea about three years ago, of moving new, lower audience TV channels to the internet. It has been sold to Dubai based KIT Digital, and will shift its customers to the KIT video streaming platform.
KIT said that renewable contract revenues were down around $1.2 million but Narrowstep had begun life as a kind of UK equivalent to US company Brightcove and had an early cycling channel, and martial arts TV in its early days.
It finished life with The Outdoor Channel, The Paralympics, BBVA, and the Red Cross TV and as part of the deal KIT will integrate these into its operations. The deal expands KIT capabilities in live-streaming, long-form delivery and delivery using Microsoft Silverlight technology.
Narrowstep developed what it called a TV operating system called telvOS and made it simple to published your own TV channel online but probably charged way too much for it to have a realistic chance of long term survival, charging for both the use of its tools, as well as a streaming charge per viewer, which almost forced customers to have a paid TV model. It also sold spare advertising inventory as part of its model.
KIT digital will also acquire Narrowstep’s reseller relationships which include Can Communicate, a UK-based digital agency specializing in creating brand generated content, and Vivocom, a leading provider of IPTV technology and production services based in Spain.
Under the terms of the deal KIT gets all Narrowstep’s operating assets and assumes its current liabilities in exchange for 25,000 shares of KIT digital common stock. But Narrowstep investor Granahan McCourt Capital will lend $350,000 to KIT digital in the form of an interest-free convertible note ‘ so the investors almost had to pay for someone to take the remnants of Narrowstep away.
KIT digital clients include ABC Disney, Associated Press, General Motors, IMG, Kmart, NASDAQ, News Corp, RCS, Telefonica and Verizon and has offices in Dubai, Melbourne, Prague, Toronto, New York and London.