KlowdTV, an over-the-top streaming service aimed at cord cutters, is adding Estrella TV to the programming it offers.
Estrella TV, owned by Liberman Broadcasting, will be a part of KlowdTV’s Canales Latinos micro-bundle of programming, which costs subscribers $3 a month.
KlowdTV offers its subscribers programming in micro-bundles and has no base package as a way to keep its cost down. The micro-bundles include sports, news, entertainment and outdoor lifestyle.
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Estrella is the third programmer to join Klowd that is big enough to be rated by Nielsen. The first two are is beIN Sports and Azteca America. KlowdTV offers about 60 channels overall.
KlowdTV isn’t disclosing how many subscribers it has, but CEO Bill O’Hara says growth is accelerating with more subscribers added in January than in any month in 2015.
“Having Estrella TV as part of our line-up will help us better serve Spanish-language audiences in the U.S., and it continues to establish KlowdTV as a leading content provider in the Spanish language community.”
O’Hara says recent surveys have shown that consumers who don’t subscribe to pay-TV are looking for two things: a lower price point and more choice. It aims to keep its price below Netflix and has packages as low as $5 a month.
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What makes KlowdTV different from other OTT services is that it doesn’t have a base package of content that subscribers are compelled to buy.
“We take that base package and we segment it into what we call bite-sized micro-packages,” he said. “So if you’re interested in sports you get sports. If you don’t, you don’t have to. We’re not trying to completely reinvent the wheel, but at the same time, no one has successful brought this to market yet, except for us.”
For now, KlowdTV is content not to offer the channels with the biggest ratings. That path has forced plans to offer TV bundles by Intel and Apple to unravel.
“If you start out trying to get the broadcasters onto a platform, you will not succeed in making a low-cost linear streaming service,” he said. “The sustainable way to make a low-cost live streaming service, which is something I think is overdue, is to break up the base package into manageable chunks for subscribers.”
Long-term however, O’Hara doesn’t think KlowdTV’s business model precludes adding more popular channels. Those channels are going to want to reach the cord-cutting demographics KlowdTV is focusing on, he says.
"Networks are beginning to call us,” he says.
KlowdTV says it has the first live-streaming TV app available on Apple TV. Its service includes an online DVR.
