The struggle for online television will likely go to a new level. Israeli start-up TVinci Ltd. will launch in December its TVinci platform for media management on Internet television. The platform is designed to create an advanced video experience. It integrates the capabilities of social networks and a range of interactive applications on a full screen, at near High-Definition quality. The new platform is based on the video dashboard method that the company developed and for which it has filed a patent.
MTV Israel is first Israeli website expected to install the TVinci platform for personal and social surfing experiences. TVinci says that it is negotiating with MTV Networks and other television stations around the world. MSN, Reshet Television Ltd., Watch India (which creates content for Indian Americans), and Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (through Castup Israel Ltd.) have already installed the platform.
TVinci expects to face competition from Dutch company Joost NV, which operates interactive software for viewing television broadcasts and video content online. The main difference between the platforms is that TVinci enables content providers use it without the need for a download by the end-user, whereas Joost's software must be downloaded to operate as an aggregator of content for access.
TVinci co-CEO Ido Wiesenberg said, "All searches for video clips are carried out through YoutTube, and we want to offer surfers another way, enabling them to find their content in a convenient manner." Wiesenberg co-founded the company with co-CEO Ofer Shayo and Guy Barkan.
MTV Israel general manager Ohad Bolotin said, "We want to enable surfers to edit the television channel they want to watch." He founded and manages MTV Israel for Ananey Communications Ltd. (TASE:ANAC).
Ananey says that a surfer can create a personal playsite at MTV Israel and invite friends to share it. The participants can use the TV Box to share music clips, recommend new performers and artists or interesting clips, and rate music items on the site. The site is also a kind of social network, alongside original Israeli productions and flagship content of MTV, such as Beavis and Butthead, and Punked, which will appear on the site in Hebrew translation.
The MTV Israel website will be launched with 6,000 Israeli and international clips with full collaboration of Israeli music companies, so that the music database will constantly expand.
TVinci is seeking to interface with other social networks, such as FaceBook, with the aim of participating in Google's Open Social standard.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 22, 2007
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