Emeryville, Calif.-based video technology company MobiTV has announced new client deals to deploy its managed IPTV video system with two additional pay TV operators, Vast Broadband and Vexus Fiber.
Headquartered in Sikeston, Missouri, cable operator Vast Broadband serves TV/video, high-speed broadband and landline voice services to business and residential customers in South Dakota and Minnesota. It offers three tiers of bundled pay TV service, starting with a skinny $33-a-month base tier that includes around 20 channels, most of them local broadcast affiliates.
Fiber broadband provider Vexus Fiber, meanwhile, operates in Texas and Louisiana, bundling a package of 260 channels with 1-gig symmetrical broadband.
Together, these two telecoms serve 75,000 customers, MobiTV said.
“Vast Broadband and Vexus have been increasing their geography, fiber penetration and service offerings to include residential services in underserved areas,” said Charlie Nooney, CEO of MobiTV, in a statement. “They turned to MobiTV as a trusted provider with a full end-to-end platform that would enable them to continue to serve their traditional markets and, at the same time, offer enhanced IP-based services.”
In late-March, Nooney told Next TV that MobiTV had around 120 clients for its MobiTV Connect software-as-a-service product, which effectively provides operators a custom virtual MVPD to bundle with their broadband service.
“We’re a white-label service that allows our operator clients to maintain their own channel lineup and their own branding, and basically keep control of their video service.”
Privately funded with $213.8 million, according to Crunchbase, MobiTV launched its Connect platform in July 2017 with Mississippi’s C Spire. As of March, MobiTV Connect had transport licenses with around 350 cable networks and roughly 4,000 local broadcast stations, allowing it to create highly customized channel lineups for its operator clients.
The MobiTV app-based streaming TV service platform, requiring only off-the-shelf consumer-grade CPE. It contains a user-friendly interface that can be customized according to the service provider’s content and design preferences. The Connect platform includes on-demand, live TV, catch-up TV, unlimited network DVR, and recommendations. The SaaS-based platform allows for real-time enablement of new technologies such as 4K/HEVC, cloud DVR, replay TV, and robust voice control.
“As a competitive provider, we need to offer our subscribers innovative services in double- or triple-play bundles that will meet their viewing, broadband and telephony needs,” added Larry Eby, COO of Vast Broadband and Vexus. “MobiTV has a proven product that we could launch speedily as we build out our residential fiber-to-the-home platform in newly acquired and existing markets. MobiTV Connect will enable us to differentiate our service offerings in a competitive market.”
