Live mobile video broadcaster Flixwagon is trumpeting what it’s calling its “platform”. The offering is barely different from the downloadable app and web widget the Israeli and US firm began offering in January – but comes with a customizable web player and service-level commitments.
Until now, only MTV had trialled the Flixwagon app (the channel’s Jonas Brothers videos not only featured on MTV’s website, they made up three half-hour TV shows). But now, co-founder Sarig Reichert told me, the company is selling its service to both news media (who might give a Flixwagon-enabled phone to reporters) and mobile networks (who might offer the app to their end users).
That’s the hope, at least. Also operating in this space are Qik (which has media partnerships with Variety and FastCompany) and Next2Friends (which is going for retailers). “We are the only provider in this space to serve a huge amount of traffic,” Reichert told me, claiming over six million streams from the MTV project. “We have a couple of (telcos) already trying us out. In the next 12 months or so, we’ll see carriers across the globe offer this to their customers. Some are looking to brand it their own, some are looking to co-branded.” It would all be commercialized through a “service fee” charged by Flixwagon.