Next.TV Launches Private Beta With 100 Channels

Video On Demand Partners Include CBS, HSN, TV Guide, Showtime

By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 1/29/2008 7:16:00 AM

Next.TV launched a private beta test of its Web video service, with more than 100 video-on-demand channels provided by partners that include CBS, HSN, TV Guide and Showtime Networks.

The Next.TV service, which is currently bundled with Hewlett-Packard’s Pavilion consumer notebooks, is scheduled to be available publicly in March 2008.

Next.TV’s channels and programs will vary by geographic region. Content partners include CBS, Hearst, HSN, TV Guide, Showtime, Endemol, Fremantle, National Lampoon, Comedy Time, Reality.TV, March Entertainment, Synthesis, Movieola, Soma, Yoga Journal, Fun Little Movies and BoomJ.

The service also hosts international channels from more than 40 countries including Brazil’s TV Galega, Chile’s Canel 9, ABTV5 Thailand, India TV, Spain’s Canal Vasco, Israel’s GTV and Kenya’s KBC.

In addition to free content, Next.TV -- through a deal with CinemaNow -- will let users rent or buy higher-quality versions of movies from major studios such as 20th Century Fox, Disney, Lionsgate, MGM, Miramax, New Line Cinema, Paramount Pictures, Sony and Warner Bros.

Next.TV is operated by Los Angeles-based Dave Networks, which produces Web-video sites for media companies, including ABC News. The 30-employee company has raised about $11 million to date.

The Next.TV Web site features a social-network community to let users create profiles with their favorite entertainment content, upload videos and photos and communicate with friends. The site will also let users program their own virtual TV channel, choosing content supplied by Next.TV’s providers, and earn a cut of advertising revenue.

Talkback

» Submit Feedback

• 
  

  Synthesis Sneak Peak: www.synthesis.net

  
  

  
  Brittany Nickels - 1/30/2008 5:47:00 PM EST
» Submit Feedback

Related Content

• Topics
• Author

TV Guide’s O’Connor Jumps to Univision

12/11/2007

Macrovision: No Immediate Plans for TV Guide Cable Nets, Magazine

12/07/2007

Guiding Asset Sales

04/13/2008

Mitsubishi Licenses TV Guide Daily for TVs

07/18/2007

Samsung HDTVs Debut Rovi's TV Guide Widget

11/23/2009

Also by this author

• Jinni's Movie-Mood Engine Impresses At CableLabs Winter Conference

• CableLabs, Canoe Push EBIF Spec Forward

• Rovi Teams With FourthWall Media For EBIF Apps

• Supercomm 2010 Canceled

• Race To The Finish For NBC Universal Affiliates

More >>>

Product Wire

• Resource Center
• Browse Categories
• Browse Companies

Featured Company

• TrylonSMR

  

  At Trylon SMR, we are dedicated Public Relations professionals solely serving clients in the media, technology, telecommunications, and related industries. We understand the specialized types of audiences our clients need to reach and the best... more

• Parks Associates

  

  Parks Associates is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates creates research capital for companies ranging from... more

• Grab Networks

  

  Created from the merger between Anystream and Voxant Media, Grab Networks offers a comprehensive video operating system and syndication network for profitably publishing video anywhere on the Internet. The system automatically manages, transcodes... more

• Telestream

  

  Telestream products are used by the world's leading media and entertainment companies and corporations for transcoding and workflow automation. Telestream helps customers transform their media for multiplatform distribution to web, mobile, DVD... more

• Akamai

  

  Akamai has created a digital operating environment for the Web. Our global platform of thousands of specially-equipped servers helps the Internet withstand the crush of daily requests for rich, dynamic, and interactive content, transactions, and... more

---

Most Recent Resources

• Robust Encoding, Transcoding and Streaming Systems – Critical...
• Broadband Services: The Turning Point
• IPTV and the Digital Home
• Fixing The Annual Rate Adjustment Planning & Execution Process
• Webcast: IDC assesses the Online HD video opportunity with CTV ...