Ottawa company brings PVR capability to over-the-air TV

Amid the many challenges television service providers were already facing, along came an Ottawa company making devices with digital recording capabilities and electronic-guide functionality for those who rely on over-the-air signals for their TV. Nuvyyo Inc. is the maker of a device known as the Tablo. Made available in Canada and the United States in May, the Tablo is the hardware behind a personal video recorder (PVR) system. It connects to an antenna, which the user must provide separately. The user also needs to provide a USB hard drive for storing content that's recorded, as well as an Internet link through a WiFi router and at least one computing device. The Tablo can determine what stations are being picked up and get information online about their programing schedules. Such information is put together in a user interface that is similar to what one might get from a typical television distributor or over-the-top service such as that offered by Netflix Inc., said Nuvyyo CEO Grant Hall. "We felt there would be a very compelling reason for most customers to say, 'Well, why am I paying Comcast or Rogers $85, $95 a month for 500 channels I don't really watch?' " Hall said in a phone interview. He said many people don't realize the depth of over-the-air TV available to them. He said there are about 15 channels available in the Ottawa area and around 30 in the Toronto region. How many stations a customer picks up depends largely on their proximity to the city centre and how powerful an antenna they are using, Hall noted. "Most people don't know that every local station is now broadcasting in gorgeous high-def," he said. That’s the result of the CRTC's requirement that most conventional broadcasters switch from analog to digital signals as of August 2011, though it gave CBC/Radio Canada another year to convert in more than 20 markets. Hall said the picture quality of over-the-air TV tends to be better than HD feeds from a cable or satellite providers because, with over-the-air TV, there isn't the need to compress the signal to accommodate hundreds of channels. He said the Tablo is best suited to transmitting TV content to tablets; hence its name. But it can also send signals to smartphones and computers, and four or five different devices simultaneously in one household. A Tablo can't get the content directly to one's television, though Hall said making that transition can be done by using Apple Inc.'s AirPlay app to relay content from iOS devices to an Apple TV system, or though use of Chromecast for devices powered Google Inc.'s Android or by creating a channel for Tablo content on a Roku Inc. TV box. Hall said there have been debates at the company about whether to simplify the package being offered, such as making the connection from the Tablo to a TV more straightforward. But given who he thinks his main customers are, he said it's probably best to have the Tablo as something that works in conjunction with the various kinds of technology already out there for non-traditional TV reception, rather than compete with it. "We're targeting Y, the millennials, so people who've grown up with this technology," he said. "They're using Netflix. They've got a Roku box or an Apple TV." He added: "We think it's better to work with that and be kind of the app on that box that brings you the conventional- or the broadcast-TV experience, rather than trying to build a box that connects to your TV. Because if we did that, the first question would be, 'Well why doesn't your box support Netflix or Hulu?' " The two-channel Tablo — allowing two different viewings at a time, two separate recordings or one of each — is available for $249.99 in Canada or $219.99 US in the United States. The newer, four-channel version — for which shipments were to start in late June — costs $329.99 in Canada and $299.99 US south of the border. Nuvyyo also sells a web-based guide service, which provides 14 days of programming information, the ability to search programs by content type such as movies, sports and drama, automated recording features, and the ability to access one's own live TV feed or recordings from anywhere via an Internet link. Subscriptions in Canada cost $5.49 a month, $54.99 a year or $164.99 for a lifetime. Those figures are $4.99 US, $49.99 US and $149.99 US in the U.S. Without a subscription, users get a day's worth of TV listings and can still manually record, Hall said. Mario Mota, a broadcasting analyst with Boon Dog Professional Services in Ottawa, said the market for such a product is likely limited. "It seems to me that the majority of people that are just going to off-air television are those that don't watch too much TV or they're looking to cut back on costs, so it seems counterintuitive to me that people would then be dipping into their pocket to buy a subscription that tells them what programs are available," Mota said in a phone interview. "Yeah, nifty technology, neat idea, but it's going to be a very niche market, in my opinion." Michel Arpin, former vice-chairman of broadcasting at the CRTC, said in a phone interview that while a device like the Tablo in itself is not going to have much impact on the fortunes of TV-service providers, "it's one more alternative. ... There are so many new ways of getting access to TV and to record television programming, that it's only one more." Hall said he has not heard from any regulators or people in the broadcasting or TV-distribution industries who have a problem with his company's product or service. It's a different situation than the one in the United States involving Aereo Inc., which uses antennas to pick up TV signals, then transmits content over the Internet to end users for a monthly fee. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule in the near future on the legality of Aereo's service, which broadcasters have argued violates copyright law. Hall said that in contrast with Aereo, his product provides services to better enjoy the TV service that is available; it doesn't, in itself, create that availability. Arpin said, from a broadcasting regulator's perspective, he does not see any issues with the Tablo or the services Nuvyyo provides. The CRTC declined to comment, and companies involved in TV distribution and content, such as BCE Inc. and Rogers, did not respond to requests for comment. — With reporting by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Ottawa company brings PVR capability to over-the-air TV

Broadcast | June 20, 2014

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