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Bijoy Ghosh

View what you want.

Shamik Paul

Couch potatoes hooked to the idiot-box will no longer have to wait eons for their favorite movie. As the age-old television is all set to join the Internet bandwagon, users will soon be able to search for movies online and play them on their TV sets.

Verismo Networks Inc, a US-based company, has developed a product that connects the television to the Internet and allows users to play movies from the Net. Users can also view photographs or listen to music. The product is designed like a set top box that is connected to the Net and to the TV set.

In a country like India, where PC penetration is still quite low, the product has a big market, says Satish Mugulavalli, Chief Artitect, Verismo. “Even today, many homes do not have a computer, and we did not want to lose this market share,” he says.

Verismo is also betting big on the social aspect of television viewing. Mugulavalli says consumption of content on the television is social in nature, which differentiates it from the computer. Members of family or even friends usually watch television together, while a computer is seen as more personal.

The product will be launched in late August, the company says. At present, it is in trial stage in India, Germany and the US. The main advantage of this technology is that it improves the interactivity of the television, which is essentially a passive medium, Mugulavalli says.

The television viewer has to be satisfied with what the content providers give. Opening up the Internet as a video platform could be one of the drivers to change the television experience. It would also help content owners, such as production houses, to distribute content.

Verismo, which started in 2004, has its R&D in India. It set up its India development centre three years ago. The US office generally handles sales.

The company has developed two products — one for consumers and the other for the content providers who have not yet gone on the Internet. These could be aggregators of independent content or production houses, according to Mugulavalli.

Verismo is also in talks with content aggregators such as Amazon.com or BitTorrent for co-branding of the consumer product. Mugulavalli says this is a marketing strategy. It would help them to reach more users. These companies might ask for more prominent display on the user screen, he adds.

The company says it merely takes the content to the consumers through the television. It does not function as a middleman. The content is owned by the provider, and the user would have to pay the provider. The users can access any video or audio content on the Web.

Mugulavalli says the first generation products will be standalone products, but later, the technology will be integrated into television sets or DVD players or any other equipment.

Verismo is in talks with equipment manufacturers. The company does not see itself as a box-maker. It will license its technology to the equipment manufacturers, he adds.

shamik@thehindu.co.in

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