FilmOn CEO: 'VOD is a disaster'
Alki David talks FilmOn, mobile and being told off by Sky
We have our own EPG at the moment, but the next phase of the EPG will have rewind, pause, play and record. A proper Sky-type service.
TR: What happens when you come out of beta?
AD: For all the channels it will be subscription-based: £5.95 with everything, and £3.95 a month without the adult content.
As we have been in beta, we have done everything for free, but when we go live we will go subscription. There will be a number of channels for free, however.
TR: How will you get current users to change?
AD: They will be forced to update their players and told they will have to pay. This will happen in a couple of weeks. Traffic-wise, we should get a 5 to 10 per cent uptake. Which is good for us.
TR: What are the legalities of having the BBC and other channels in your package?
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AD: There's a new law coming out in December which allows all broadcasters to broadcast their shows online over IP. At the moment it is just allowed through terrestrial and cable.
That would mean for us that we would be completely legal. We are legal now because we are not monetising from it, as we are in beta. But it is an open beta so anyone can join.
With the BBC, we are not going to monetise from their content until the legislation changes. Channel 4 is very interested in what we are doing.
TR: Would you say you are a unique proposition?
AD: Absolutely, we generate our own content and you can watch the latest studio releases on a pay-per-view basis on the stie. We are doing deals with EMI to do live music streaming – we are the real deal, as we have the resources, the patents and history in the internet game.
Our market capital at the moment is 651 million Euros. By 2011 I expect us to be a $2 billion company.
TR: How does the advertising work on your site – are you using targeted adverts?
AD: Yes, we are targeting our adverts. There's a lot of negative notions of targeted advertising, but it's a big PR stunt. Everyone knows this.
It's inevitable. You are not going to stop it, there is too much at stake for it not to happen – it has happened.
So, despite what anybody thinks, this isn't Big Brother this is just efficient advertising. If you don't like it, f**k off and do something else.
TR: What about the mobile phone release?
AD: It's fantastic, we are making it as easy as possible for the user – we are not using 3G bandwidth, we are using 2G bandwidth. It'll run between 80 and 100Kb/s.
It works exactly the same as it works on the internet – what you see on the site is what you get. It will be ready for the iPhone but we are working specifically with the Symbian platform.
TR: The Digital Britain report has called for 2Mb/s broadband for all by 2012, do you think this is a good thing?
AD: Personally, in comparison with what is happening in Europe that is pitiful. However, compression techniques are improving constantly so it might not be such a bad thing.
Out technology means you can get HD content streamed within the 2Mb/s range, so it's not such a bad thing for us.
To learn more about FilmOn, go to www.filmon.com.
Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.