Sezmi supports wireless quad play in Malaysia

Sezmi, provider of a hybrid broadcast/over-the-top video platform available as a wholesale service in several U.S. cities, has announced its first international carrier customer--YTL Communications of Malaysia. In another first, YTL is using Sezmi as a key element in a wireless-based quad-play offering.

YTL is aiming to bring the quad-play to all of Malaysia over its 4G network by the end of 2011. Sezmi is building the digital TV network portion of the quad-play and extending content delivery to multiple types of devices, while also helping YTL with content partnerships to get its video offering up and running.

Sezmi bills itself as the only hybrid player providing both over-the-air broadcast and OTT Internet support end-to-end. Sezmi CMO David Allred said that combination will prove especially helpful to emerging 4G carriers that want to do video over LTE. “It’s more efficient to deliver content over a hybrid platform when you can have broadcast do the heavy lifting of providing TV content,” he said. “You can deliver it once by broadcast, rather than creating a million different streams.”

That capability makes Sezmi an argument against both the traditional cable TV model and fiber-intensive network build-outs. Though it is trying to have an impact at a time when many carriers have already bought into the fiber broadband model, Allred said the company has several U.S. carrier relationships currently at the trial stage, and is encouraged that recent slowdowns in fiber broadband expansion by some carriers could mean increasing viability for other options.

Sezmi actually started a few years ago with a model of pursuing service providers, particularly telcos, but stepped back from that approach somewhat to develop retail channels. At the time, carriers may have not been ready for the hybrid message, but Allred said they are now hearing it loud and clear. “Two and a half years ago, when we referred to our product as a hybrid TV platform, no one was really using that term, but now most telecom companies have determined in one form or another that they are pursuing hybrid,” he said.

The Sezmi box sells for about $150, about half the price it was listed at earlier this year, but while noting that Apple TV sells for $99 and other alternative boxes sell for three times that amount, Allred that the hybrid set-top box arena is likely to see price volatility for some time to come. Sezmi also includes two choice of service subscription options, one priced at $5 per month and the other at $20.