NimbleTV, the company behind a cloud-based platform that provides access to local channels as well as pay-TV subscriptions and a cloud DVR, said it will follow last year's launch in New York City with the debut of its multiscreen platform in nine additional U.S. cities later this year.
NimbleTV said it will support channels from the Chicago area starting August 1, and will follow with access to local channels later this year in Atlanta; Boston; Dallas; Detroit; Philadelphia; Los Angeles; San Francisco; and Washington, D.C.
NimbleTV launched in New York late last year, billing itself as a hosted “concierge” service. Although it doesn’t have direct relationships with pay-TV operators, its system in that market currently provides access to four local MVPDs: RCN, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision Systems, Verizon Communications’ FiOS TV and RCN. It has not yet announced which MVPDs it will support in its upcoming launch markets.
Under its model, NimbleTV signs up customers for video services and manages the installation of set-tops at a data center, where it re-encodes the signals before passing them along to customers. In this respect, NimbleTV essentially provides a virtualized version of a Slingbox and a cloud DVR that delivers video to a range of IP-connected platform, including most major PC web browsers, Apple iOS devices, select Android smartphones and tablets, the Apple TV box (via AirPlay), and on the Roku platform (via a private NimbleTV channel).
Using its hosted, concierge-style approach, NimbleTV signs up customers for video services and manages the installation of set-tops at a data center, where it re-encodes the signals and passes them along to customers; users access the service on a variety of devices, including PCs, Roku boxes, iOS devices, select smart TVs and the Apple TV box
In New York, NimbleTV offers a “free” tier that provides more than 10 channels, and a “Lite” plan for consumers that have an existing pay-TV service that starts at $3.99 per month and provides multiscreen access to a slimmed-down live TV lineup and a cloud DVR.
NimbleTV also offers three “Select” paid plans for consumers who do not already subscribe to a pay-TV service: 20-plus channels for $29.98 per month and 20 hours of DVR storage; 40-plus channels for $59.98 per month and 90 hours of DVR storage for $59.98 per month; and 90-plus channels and 90 hours of DVR storage for $84.98 per month. NimbleTV sells premium packages from Cinemax, Starz and Showtime ($14 each per month), Fox Soccer Plus ($15 per month), and HBO ($19 per month).
Subscribers can also pay for extra DVR storage, starting at 10 hours for $4.99 per month, and up to 300 hours for $21.99 per month. NimbleTV also offers channels from parts of India, and has plans to offer channels from Russia, the U.K., and Germany.
NimbleTV has not released a subscriber figure, but the company is “seeing solid growth of 1,000 new sign-ups a day," a company spokesman said via email.
Because it supports existing subscription models, NimbleTV insists that it is a friend to pay-TV providers while also providing a consumer-friendly multiscreen service that provides on-the-go access to their video subscriptions.
“Pay TV is fragmented across devices, locations and providers. NimbleTV’s simple mission is to unify the viewing experience, making the TV that consumers are already paying for easily accessible to them, on their own terms,” Anand Subramanian, founder and CEO of NimbleTV, said in a statement. “Supporting programming from cities across the country brings us one step closer to our goal, while respecting the existing TV ecosystem that pays creators for their content.”
Founded in 2010, NimbleTV raised $6 million in the fall of 2012, and includes Tribune, Greycroft Partners and Tribeca Venture Partners among its financial backers.
