The growing number of internet-connected TV boxes and TV sets represents an excellent new living room distribution opportunity for video portals previously wed to the desktop web.
But an even more intriguing variant of that opportunity might be owning the TVs, too.
That is what Chinese video site LeTV is doing, having announced it will sell something it’s calling “Super LeTV”.
The company says the idea is to profit from “Hardware + Contents + Sharing Revenues from Apps + Terminal advertisements”, reports TechNode, which says LeTV’s holding company has put up RMB 28.28 million ($4.5 million) for the project.
LeTV is committing to invest between RMB 500 million ($79.5 million) and RMB 1.5 billion ($238 million) in to the new business, according to Marbridge Consulting, which says Beijing incubator Innovation Works will invest in to the operation.
TechInAsia: “If such a television were to take hold in China, one would think it would bode well for online video companies, most notably for Youku/Tudou as the most dominant player in that space.”
LeTV already unveiled its own set-top box earlier this year, so an integrated TV is not such a stretch. Manufacture would be sub-contracted out.
As well as amateur video, LeTV and its peers Youku and Tudou host premium video from TV and movie makers.