Just when you thought the Web TV space was an overstuffed turkey three days after Thanksgiving, it appears there’s a new player in town.
New York-based TidalTV has closed a $15 million first round of funding led by New Enterprise Associates and Valhalla Partners. The site is still under construction so no peaky peaky just yet.
But the startup said it will focus on offering viewers professionally produced, branded programming via its streaming, browser-based platform. Not having to download a special player is certainly one check in the positive column for TidalTV. This is often not the case with online video sites offering high-quality content.
TidalTV, however, has not yet announced where that content will come from, and that’s probably because the company’s executives are furiously trying to lock in deals. Many major content producers, like Viacom’s MTV Networks, have opted to push their stuff on as many web sites as possible and share in ad revenue. And with TidalTV’s contacts—executives include former top people at Joost and FOX—those deals should happen soon, if not already.
But the real question is how does TidalTV expect to differentiate itself in what is now a 10-keg party in the backyard shed. Joost, Veoh, Miro, Babelgum and others have a head start on TidalTV, large quantities of high-quality content, and growing followings.
And we can’t know if the newest entrant in the space has something special to offer because the site is not yet up. So TidalTV, please entertain my request. Lights, camera, action!