Philo (formerly Tivli) is an internet television company currently based in San Francisco, California. The service first launched at Harvard University in 2009. Investors in the company include HBO, Facebook co-founder Andrew McCollum, and Mark Cuban.
Video Philo (company)
History
Philo was founded in 2009 by then Harvard seniors Nicholas Krasney and Tuan Ho. It began as an experiment using aluminium foil as a makeshift satellite dish in order to "pick up TV signals and deliver them wirelessly to their laptops via a jerry-rigged server". At its launch, the project was intended to be a way to circumvent the fact that Harvard did not provide cable TV service for its students. When the service was made available to others in 2011, half of the Harvard resident population registered for it within the first few weeks of the offer.
In 2009 Philo, as Tivli, first incubated in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the Harvard Innovation Lab (iLab) before moving to Harvard Square in 2013. After securing their Series B round, Philo moved again in 2015 to San Francisco, California.
In July 2013, the venture raised a $6.3 million round led by Patrick Chung at venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates. Among the Series A investors, were Mark Cuban from Radical Investments LP, HBO, and Rho Ventures. The same year the company was rebranded as Philo, from its former name, Tivli.
In June 2015, Philo raised $10 million in a Series B round led by New Enterprise Associates, with joint investment from HBO, Rho Ventures, Xfund, CBC New Media Group, as well as Andrew McCollum. McCollum, a founding member of Facebook, became CEO of the company in 2014. As of September 2015, the service was available in 42 universities .
On November 14, 2017, Philo launched a new OTT streaming television service in the U.S. The basic service is priced at $16 per month and a second tier with 46 channels is priced at $20 per month. The service includes channels from programming groups that include A&E Networks, AMC Networks, Discovery Communications, Scripps Networks Interactive and Viacom, but not 21st Century Fox, The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal or Time Warner, and therefore includes no sports. The service is available via TVs, computers, tablets, and phones.
Philo offers a seven-day free trial with no payment information required for the first two days. Specific service features and functions include 3 simultaneous streams, on-demand library, unlimited 30-day DVR, and the ability to pause a live channel, start programs from the beginning, and watch programs that have aired within the past three days.
Philo plans to integrate a social platform that connects viewers with friends and family to discover new content, share favorite shows, and watch shows together.
Maps Philo (company)
Content
Recognition
- #47 - Fast Company's "Most Innovative Companies of 2014"
References
Further reading
- Landry, Lauren (May 1, 2011). "TV 3.0: Tivli Brings Live Streaming Cable to College Campuses". BostInno. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
- "On-Campus Streaming TV Provider Tivli Rebrands as Philo, Adds Cloud DVR". The Wall Street Journal. October 2, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2016. (subscription required)
External links
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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