Push is back
Tip TV wants to enforce TV concepts on the Internet, reviving an old technology
Tip TV wants to push TV concepts onto the Internet, reviving an old technologyBy Alessandro MonachesiA hype five years ago, declared dead shortly thereafter - push technology seemed to have gone the way of many an Internet application as recently as the beginning of last year. In Zumikon near Zurich, Tip TV AG is preparing a comeback of the principle.
"One of the hottest topics on an Internet show this week is so-called push technology." So said a news report from the Reuters news agency in January 1997. Information was automatically sent by push services according to customer preferences to the user PC, where it could be viewed offline.
This saved the user the then still expensive online search for specific news or materials on various websites. Two years later, however, Push was already forgotten. Once hailed as a killer app, this content delivery technology quickly lost its relevance. On the one hand, Internet users found it too slow, and on the other, they preferred to research information on the Web themselves. The pioneering companies of that time have long since sought their business field in other areas, whether in the personalization of online news (PointCast) or as specialists in network management (Marimba).
Tip TV, a young Swiss company, brings new life to the push philosophy. Tip TV is breaking new ground on the web: Away from the written form of the net, is the motto, towards the moving images of television. Tip TV drew attention to itself with the Medi@box at Muba 2000: Tip TV was able to send out over 10,000 video mails recorded and sent with the Medi@box during the first five days of the fair; a clear sign of the public's interest in the box.
As interesting as the allMedi@box, as the device has come to be called, is as a terminal system, it is basically a byproduct of Tip TV's efforts. This is because Frank Pöllmann, Tip TV's business manager, is not interested in the hardware. His trump card is that every Medi@box video mail comes with the Tip TV player, a separate application of the Realplayer.
This player is the heart of Tip TV's strategy. The program is not just for playing moving vacation greetings. The Tip TV player is an actual receiver for Tip TV's content. Pöllmann still has a lot of plans for this reciever. In the future, the user should be able to simply start the player when he wants to know what is on and where. Then all Tip TV channels will be available to him. Users will no longer have to spend a lot of time picking out what they're interested in, but will get everything delivered to them free of charge. Push, but with a concept that is closer to television.
Already 6000 users have downloaded the Partytv.ch player
Currently, Tip TV's content amounts to movie and DVD trailers, as well as program notes from TV stations. And on Partytv.ch. With Partytv.ch, Tip TV AG is launching its first content provider of its own. Content scouts roam from club to club, from disco to disco for Partytv.ch and film the party lions with their DV equipment. The statements of the evening are then available on the website in small live films, edited by the young team. For Partytv.ch, too, the magic word that Pöllmann never tires of repeating is "community. Of course, the tip TV player is available for download on the homepage. After Partytv.ch, further special interest channels with different orientations are to follow. For example, Kirchentv.ch is planned.
Pöllmann is satisfied with the first results of Partytv .ch: 6000 users are said to have downloaded the player in the short time since its launch. With Tip TV, Pöllmann wants to turn today's concepts of advertising and marketing on the Internet upside down: "Gone are the days of milkmaid calculations about pageviews!" Banner clicks have also had their day for him. He is particularly interested in dwell time. And according to Tip TV's own data, this is an impressive 15 minutes, an astronomical figure by Internet standards.
"One of the hottest topics on an Internet show this week is so-called push technology." So said a news report from the Reuters news agency in January 1997. Information was automatically sent by push services according to customer preferences to the user PC, where it could be viewed offline.
This saved the user the then still expensive online search for specific news or materials on various websites. Two years later, however, Push was already forgotten. Once hailed as a killer app, this content delivery technology quickly lost its relevance. On the one hand, Internet users found it too slow, and on the other, they preferred to research information on the Web themselves. The pioneering companies of that time have long since sought their business field in other areas, whether in the personalization of online news (PointCast) or as specialists in network management (Marimba).
Tip TV, a young Swiss company, brings new life to the push philosophy. Tip TV is breaking new ground on the web: Away from the written form of the net, is the motto, towards the moving images of television. Tip TV drew attention to itself with the Medi@box at Muba 2000: Tip TV was able to send out over 10,000 video mails recorded and sent with the Medi@box during the first five days of the fair; a clear sign of the public's interest in the box.
As interesting as the allMedi@box, as the device has come to be called, is as a terminal system, it is basically a byproduct of Tip TV's efforts. This is because Frank Pöllmann, Tip TV's business manager, is not interested in the hardware. His trump card is that every Medi@box video mail comes with the Tip TV player, a separate application of the Realplayer.
This player is the heart of Tip TV's strategy. The program is not just for playing moving vacation greetings. The Tip TV player is an actual receiver for Tip TV's content. Pöllmann still has a lot of plans for this reciever. In the future, the user should be able to simply start the player when he wants to know what is on and where. Then all Tip TV channels will be available to him. Users will no longer have to spend a lot of time picking out what they're interested in, but will get everything delivered to them free of charge. Push, but with a concept that is closer to television.
Already 6000 users have downloaded the Partytv.ch player
Currently, Tip TV's content amounts to movie and DVD trailers, as well as program notes from TV stations. And on Partytv.ch. With Partytv.ch, Tip TV AG is launching its first content provider of its own. Content scouts roam from club to club, from disco to disco for Partytv.ch and film the party lions with their DV equipment. The statements of the evening are then available on the website in small live films, edited by the young team. For Partytv.ch, too, the magic word that Pöllmann never tires of repeating is "community. Of course, the tip TV player is available for download on the homepage. After Partytv.ch, further special interest channels with different orientations are to follow. For example, Kirchentv.ch is planned.
Pöllmann is satisfied with the first results of Partytv .ch: 6000 users are said to have downloaded the player in the short time since its launch. With Tip TV, Pöllmann wants to turn today's concepts of advertising and marketing on the Internet upside down: "Gone are the days of milkmaid calculations about pageviews!" Banner clicks have also had their day for him. He is particularly interested in dwell time. And according to Tip TV's own data, this is an impressive 15 minutes, an astronomical figure by Internet standards.
