ATSC 3.0-based virtual pay TV service Evoca TV has informed its customers that it will shutter on Dec. 31 if it can't obtain more growth capital.
"The past few years have been marked with unique challenges which required constant adaptation: a pandemic, global supply chain issues and inflation," Evoca TV said in a note posted on its landing page Wednesday. "This is a difficult economy for a company like ours to raise the funding that we need to grow."
In an email exchange with Next TV Thursday morning, Evoca TV Co-founder, President and CEO Todd Achilles did express some hope that the company's economic situation could improve and that it will live into January. "We remain optimistic that we’ll get through this and return to growth," he told us.
The Boise, Idaho-based Evoca TV said will continue serving existing customers through December, but it's not signing up new subscribers.
Evoca TV launched in 2018, using the NextGen TV standard to deliver the bulk of its video signal, with only low-bandwidth IP used for metadata and other digital components.
Evoca TV was originally designed for rural areas with limited access to good bandwidth.
Over time, the startup evolved its business model as a low-priced skinny bundle serving as a cost-effective way for consumers to access regional sports networks.
For example, in the Denver area, Altitude Sports -- home to the NBA's Nuggets and NHL's Avalanche -- has been blacked out on Comcast for three years running. Evoca TV delivers the channel, along with AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, home to MLB's Colorado Rockies, and a handful of local broadcast channels, for $25 a month.
Evoca TV has also established a marketing partnership with Sling TV whereby it's able to offer a more robust channel offering to consumers. For less than $70 a month, and with limited bandwidth, consumers could obtain their local broadcast channels, their local RSNs and a limited number of essential basic-cable networks supplied by Sling TV.
While Evoca TV has been able to establish a presence in markets including Denver and the Portland area, it has been rebuffed in its attempts to license Bally Sports channels in markets including Arizona -- one of many expansion challenges the fledgling service has had to overcome.
"In contrast to Sinclair/Diamond, we have never been growing faster and the last 90 days have seen record sign-ups with churn under 1%," Achilles told Next TV.
