We first talked about Sezmi back in November but perhaps failed to able demonstrate why it is different from the usual run of the mill internet video service. Last week it launched in Los Angeles and will gradually roll out across the US.
The first thing you have to do is think Moviebeam ‘ that’s it, datacasting. In the same way as Disney’s ill-fated (and extremely expensive) Moveibeam adventure, Sezmi harnesses the spare data capacity of local broadcasting stations. It uses this, plus local TV broadcasts, plus internet delivery to create a set of TV channels on a Digital Video Recorder. In this it has shades of Akimbo and all the other failed internet video services such as Akimbo, or Vudu, or Veoh or Babelgum or Joost.
But it is not like any of them. It is a hybrid. Top programs from leading networks like CNN, CNBC, Bravo, TNT, MSNBC, USA, MTV and Discovery are delivered using terrestrial datacasting, or trickle VOD, as files which are available to the DVR EPG once they are delivered. Overnight broadcasting would be the best way. Local networks are simply broadcast, and more cable networks are sent over the internet. Overnight datacasting is tantamount to the way Kindle uses the cellular networks to magically deliver books, except this does it with spare bits in a digital broadcast scheme, not cellular.
When Disney did Moviebeam, it only sent 100 films, and only 6 of these changed each week, and they were all owned by Disney. It wasn’t the technology which killed Moviebeam, although DVR storage technology has come on a long way since then and this one has 1 TB of storage, but the business model. Everyone at Sezmi has high hopes for its new business model which will offer cable style programming packages up to 100 TV channels, for $20 a month. Of course you still have to buy a Sezmi DVR which costs $299 and includes an HD Media Recorder that automatically organizes live, recorded, on-demand and online content and can store up to 1,400 hours of programming. It uses an advanced indoor TV antenna system for local HD broadcast channels.
Sezmi also offers movies from studios such as 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Bros and has a deal with Sonic Solutions that allows access to Sonic’s Roxio CinemaNow.
Sezmi has now begun selling through Best Buy in the greater Los Angeles area. Buno Pati, co-founder and chief executive officer of Sezmi, said, ‘Consumers have been clamoring for a better way to view their favorite shows, movies and web videos in a seamless way, and at an affordable price. Today, Sezmi is making that a reality with the first self-installed, all-in-one home television service that delivers leading cable networks live and on-demand with the easiest access to broadcast, on-demand and online entertainment.’