It’s summer. It’s hot outdoors and you’re sitting opposite the TV, watching a program in between commercials. Don’t you sometimes feel you’re missing something much better on another channel? You have to look for the TV guide in the pile of newspapers, or look for incomplete listings offered by YES or Tevel Digital.
MyDTV comes to the aid of us couch potatoes. Its product enables the viewer to get messages on the screen, telling him that a pre-defined, preferred program is about to begin. The software is even capable of alerting the viewer about a program or segments of a program that will be broadcast in the near future that match pre-determined criteria.
How does it work? The software is installed at the facility of the cable or satellite company that provides the program, then automatically installed in the customer’s digital converter. The converter has memory chips, making it possible to upgrade the operating software by remote control. The customer defines his areas of interest via the graphic interface on his screen, using his cable or satellite remote (which has keys allowing him to surf and choose screens). Since the software is automatically installed by remote control, it can be used by customers who already have digital remotes, without any further installations.
The definitions are derived from categories offered by the content provider. Similarly, each category has sub-categories that help reduce the margin of error. The viewer feeds key words into the system through his remote. If they appear in an upcoming item, he will be alerted in advance. For example, a Beatles fan will be notified every time they are mentioned or heard on one of the channels.
MyDTV founder and president Gil Dudkiewicz says that he considered the idea of a start-up for several years, but that this is the first really concrete development he has made that was powerful enough to promote. Dudkiewicz was previously director of marketing and business development at Tefen USA, an industrial engineering and system analysis firm, where he was exposed to technology developments in the entertainment world. When talk began of interactive television, he decided it was the field he wanted to pursue.
MyDTV’s development center is located in Rehovot at Teldor’s TICI Software Systems’ offices. TICI, which specializes in real-time, object-oriented software systems, is working closely with MyDTV in developing the product. MyDTV currently has a staff of 13 and the finished product is scheduled for year-end.
Well-known directors
MyDTV has two types of customers: TV stations (content providers) and cable and satellite network operators. The first group will probably pay an annual license to use the technology, while a pricing model combining an annual licensing fee and a viewer quantity calculation will be applied to the cable and satellite companies.
The start-up was financed by Dudkiewicz until May 2000, when almost $1 million was raised from George Hara’s Defta Partners, followed by another financing round, in which the Edmond de Rothschild Venture Capital Management fund and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati participated. Dudkiewicz declines to disclose the sum of money the company raised, but defines it as “a few more million dollars”.
MyDTV is planning an “official” first round next summer, after it acquires a number of well-known customers. “We’re planning to have revenue this year, and break even next year,” Dudkiewicz says. “It’s a simple product, requiring existing infrastructure, so it will be easy for providers to adopt it. It’s not some far-reaching technology that will be relevant only in five years. We think it will be very easy for them to sell it as a service to customers.”
MyDTV has attracted a host of celebrities from the communications world: Zara Haimo, co-founder of Infoseek and former VP of WebTV, is interim CEO; Adi Gamon, co-founder and co-manager of Chip Express and a member of the Paul Allen’s Interval Research incubator, is a director, along with Mario Rosati, of the Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati law firm in Palo Alto. The advisory board also includes some famous names associated with Reuters, Motorola, Gazette, and TiVO.
As for competitors, Dudkiewicz says, “It depends how you look at it and how you define what we’re doing. Replay and TiVO (manufacturers of videos with a hard disk for recording programs – G.N.) aren't really direct competitors, even though some of their services are similar to ours, but less sophisticated. They can alert customers about a program, whereas we can fine tune the alert to an item within a program.”
The company has several beta customers, including ABC and CBS. The Digital TV magazine gave the product the “Pick of Show” award at the NAB 2001 exhibition on television, radio and Internet a month ago.
In addition, the company has signed a cooperation agreement with interactive television company OpenTV. Dudkiewicz believes that in time it will be possible to add other applications, including segmentation for premium content delivery or e-commerce. He claims that the speed in which the product was developed with a relatively small budget, derives from the fact that he chose to focus on the first stage of the “alert” concept, without diversifying further, which would have perhaps led to more options, but would also have extended the development time.
| Business Card
Name: MyDTV Founded: January 2000
Product: Personalized digital television application Employees: 13 Investors: Defta Partners, Edmond de Rothschild Venture Capital Management, web site: www.mydtv.tv |
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 13 June, 2001