Sezmi, a start-up seeking to be at the heart of the convergence of the internet and broadcast television, has announced the completion of the first successful technical trials of its “TV 2.0″ service.
The Silicon Valley company has been using Seattle as a testbed for its hybrid system, which combines digital terrestrial TV signals with broadband connections to offer both regular TV channels and programming on demand.
Sezmi’s partners in Seattle were Fisher Communications, Tribune Broadcasting and Daystar Television Networks – TV station owners who are licensing their spectrum and expect to earn additional revenues from advertising on local news content included in Sezmi’s service.
Sezmi expects to be able to undercut the offerings of cable and satellite providers by using the existing over-the-air TV towers and broadband infrastructure to deliver its services.
It emerged from stealth mode in May and planned launches in several US markets this year. But that schedule has slipped. Phil Wiser, co-founder and president, told me there had been a couple of delays “getting the pieces to fit the right way”. The next stage would be full-blown consumer trials in Seattle before moving into other markets in the course of 2009.
Despite the credit crunch, he said Sezmi was in a good position financially. Its last funding announcement was a $17.5m round in August last year.
Sezmi will be showing off its service, which allows members of a household to create separate personalised TV experiences, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.
