MCV-Elgato Deal Could Precede More Mobile DTV Apps
A deal between the Mobile Content Venture (MCV) and Elgato could be the basis on which future mobile-DTV deals with distributors are modeled, MCV executives said. The MCV’s Dyle Mobile DTV brand will support Elgato’s EyeTV iOS device and app, they said Monday. The MCV, a joint venture among Fox, NBC and a group of top station groups, said it hopes to let its distributor partners differentiate themselves through applications that use MCV content. The Elgato deal “could point the way for potential distribution partners down the road,” said Erik Moreno, senior vice president-corporate development at Fox Network Group and a co-general manager at the MCV.
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"This is something we had to think very hard about, [giving up control of the user interface] but at the end of the day … we want to have distributors, someone like MetroPCS or an MVPD to be able to build a consumer experience around our product offering,” Moreno said. “We are encouraging the device manufacturers to build to the specs … and differentiate their services at the application layer.” That means ceding some control over the user experience to partners, a rare move in a media industry marked by battles over device control.
At first, the number of Dyle’s developer partners will be limited, said Salil Dalvi, another MCV co-general manager and senior vice president-mobile platform development at NBCUniversal Digital Distribution. “We don’t have any objections over the long term to having independent development around the platform,” Dalvi said. “In the near term, there is a finite amount of development that the ecosystem can take,” he said. “There is a bit of a fine line between making sure there are consumer choices and chaos and we don’t want to have too many different services with different approaches at this early stage.”
The EyeTV service with Dyle will be available later this year after Belkin begins selling a similar Dyle-certified mobile DTV accessory that was announced at CES this year, Dalvi and Moreno said. Elgato is ready to begin shipping the devices as soon as possible, but the timing depends on the level of cooperation from the various companies involved, said Adam Steinberg, vice president-marketing for Elgato Systems. “We think there is plenty of initial demand and we think there will be more coming, but the answer for us is that we're implementing this and there are many stakeholders in the ecosystem, from the broadcasters to the conditional access software providers,” he said. “The speed at which we're going to do this depends on the level of cooperation we're getting,” he said. “Right now the level of cooperation is good and we look forward to getting it done quickly.”