GridNetworks Takes Web Video To TV, Via Game Consoles
Startup Launches Service to Send Content to Xbox 360s, Other Devices
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 11/17/2008 2:00:00 AM EST
GridNetworks, an Internet video delivery startup whose backers include Comcast and Cisco Systems, is launching a service that lets content providers funnel Web video to TVs by way of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 videogame console and other devices.
The company’s GridCast TV service is supposed to work with any device that supports Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) home-networking protocols. Initially it will work with Xbox 360s, and GridNetworks plans to extend it to Sony’s PlayStation 3 and other UPnP-enabled products.
The idea: to provide a path for Internet video to the TV without requiring consumers to buy and install an extra set-top device.
“We’re showing the industry that you can get Web content directly into the living room today,” GridNetworks CEO Tony Naughtin said. By pushing that video to TVs, “we’re getting the content in front of three sets of eyeballs instead of one.”
The company said three video-content providers—Revision3, IndieFlix and HavocTV—are testing out GridCast TV. According to GridNetworks, the service already has the potential to reach millions of homes, with roughly 20 million Xbox 360s and 15 million PlayStation 3s sold worldwide. However, not all of those consoles have been connected to the Internet.
To use the service, a consumer first must have an Xbox 360 or other supported device connected to a home network. Then he or she downloads and installs a 3-Megabyte application, the GridCast Connector, on either a PC or Mac. That application is automatically discovered by a UPnP device, such as Xbox 360.
When the consumer selects GridCast-enabled video on a content provider’s site to watch on TV, the software streams the video to the UPnP device. The video is then accessible from the device’s on-screen menu.
“One of the key values of this service is, we isolate the content providers from having to worry about what device consumers are going to use to watch on TV,” Naughtin said.
GridNetworks director of product management Tim Fujita-Yuhas said the Web-to-TV service preserves a content owner’s existing business models, including pay-per-view, subscription pricing and in-line video ads.
“We don’t force the content provider to conform to a business model that we support,” Fujita-Yuhas said. “We’re not a distributor—there’s no licensing to us. We’re not a portal for the TV.”
GridCast TV delivers video in Microsoft’s Windows Media format. The company will provide encoding services and media management, reporting and analytics, storage and video delivery. Naughtin said pricing has not been finalized, but the company is looking at charging per view, per byte, per minute per user or some combination of those.
Currently, the GridCast TV service does not support any digital rights management technologies. However, Naughtin said the company would be able to accommodate customers’ DRM requirements if necessary.
The Seattle-based company, founded in 2005, has raised $9.5 million from Comcast, Cisco and Panorama Capital.
Eventually, Naughtin imagines the GridNetworks technology will be embedded into cable or telco TV set-top boxes.
“This is really no different than going to Blockbuster, renting a DVD and playing it on the DVD player,” he said. “The only difference is, the source is different—it’s a public Web service, and that’s very powerful.”
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