Jomo Sono. Image: TechCentral
South African soccer legend Jomo Sono, president of Infinivy SA, is behind a new free-to-air Internet streaming platform in South Africa called TV2GO, offering viewers over 100 linear channels and on-demand content.
Infinivy SA owns 26% of TV2GO, with Israeli firm Cast-TV, which provides the technology behind the system, owning the remaining 74%. The company is headed by Cast-TV shareholder Yaron Chen, who will divide his time equally between Israel and South Africa.
Cast-TV plans to launch in another three African countries “soon”. They are Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia. It has already launched streaming services in Russia, Israel, Romania and the Czech Republic.
The TV2GO platform, which streams via the Web rather than dedicated apps, offers a wide range of programming, from general entertainment to sport and religion, tailored to South African audiences, Chen said at a media launch in Sandton on Thursday. Included is the Jomo Cosmos soccer channel, owned by Sono.
The platform has already been soft launched and has had 30 000 viewers to date. Chen wants to grow this to half a million within the next 12 months. The platform is supported with advertising, with viewers likely to see up to eight advertisements for every three hours of viewing.
It can be accessed via mobile phones, tablets and Internet-connected TVs and works on both mobile and fixed-line connections. Streaming bitrates are adaptive, so those viewing using a cellular connection will consume less data. Those with faster fixed-line connections such as fibre will get content streamed in either 720p or 1080p quality (depending on the channel).
TV2GO is launching with Vodacom, which has undertaken to market it. The mobile operator plans to offer entertainment “tickets” for customers to consume video, radio and streaming music on the platform.
Chen said TV2GO plans to add more content over time and will refresh its existing channels every two months. There is a plan to bring education channels to the platform, adapted for the local education system. — © 2018 NewsCentral Media
https://techcentral.co.za/jomo-sono-tv2go/85001/
TV2GO South African Streaming Service Undermined By Premium Content Dearth
Fitch Solutions / Telecoms, Media, Technology / South Africa / Tue 13 Nov, 2018
The latest: South African-owned firm Infinivy SA and Israeli partner company Cast-TV have launched an internet-based free-to-air streaming service TV2GO, in South Africa. As 74% shareholder, Cast-TV will provide the infrastructure and technical expertise for the service.
Implications: TV2GO’s 'no-subscription fee' model runs the risk of a volatile user base, a key challenge for a business built on advertisement revenues. The provider’s key value proposition is that users will only require an internet connection to access its service
Free TV streaming platform with 100 channels launched in South Africa
The TV2GO platform – available at www.tv2go.co.za – was first punted for South Africans by Infinivy SA and Cast-TV in October.
TechCentral has now reported that the platform is officially live in the country, and is backed by Infinivy SA and Cast-TV. Jomo Sono was listed as the current president of Infinivy SA.
“TV2GO offers an extraordinary user experience to watch their favourite programs anywhere, anytime, and on any device,” stated the release.
“TV2GO content line-up features movies, documentary, fashion, martial arts, gaming, and kids channels, which can be watched on the SPI network of channels.”
Radio channels and music are also listed on the platform.
When tested by MyBroadband, the platform groups channels into categories, with tiles showing the channel names. A player window is then shown in the top-right, and can be made fullscreen.
Some of the channels were also seen carrying YouTube watermarks.
Additionally, if users have an ad-blocker installed, the following message is displayed and access to the page is prevented.
TV2GO A NEW FTA STREAMING PLATFORM HAS BEEN LAUNCHED IN SA
TV2GO a new free-to-air Internet streaming platform which offers viewers over 100 linear channels and on-demand content has been launched in South Africa by famous South African soccer legend Jomo Sono who is the president of Infinivy SA.
Infinivy SA owns 26% of TV2GO, with Israeli firm Cast-TV, which offers the technology behind the system, owning the remaining 74%. The company is run by Cast-TV shareholder Yaron Chen.
Cast-TV intends to roll out in another three African countries, Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia. However, it has already introduced streaming services in Russia, Israel, Romania and the Czech Republic.
Chen declared, ‘’The TV2GO platform streams via the Web rather than dedicated apps and provides a wide range of programming, from general entertainment to sport and religion, adapted for South African audiences.’’
TV2GO is accessible via mobile phones, tablets and Internet-connected TVs and works on both mobile and fixed-line connections.
Vodacom has collaborated with TV2GO and is looking for prospects to bring the content to its customers in a more consistent way.
According to Chen, TV2GO plans to add more content with time and will update its existing channels every two months. Furthermore, the platform has plans to bring education channels to the platform, adapted for the local education system.
extvnews.com/tv2go-a-new-fta-streaming-platform-has-been-launched-in-sa/
Tomorrow’s TV arrives today with launch of TV2GO
Touted as a free platform for everyone, TV2GO is a new amalgamation platform that sources content from various places, including linear channels, music channels, and several internet video sharing sites, including YouTube and Vimeo.
The channels cover a vast array of categories including news, finance, religion, sport, children, music, and more. The content is refreshed every two months and much of it has been adapted to the local market, including some Zulu language programming.
“The content is unique for this platform. We adapt the content and the linear channels to the people in the market,” comments Yaron Chen, CEO of Infinivy.
As long as the user has an internet connection and data to stream, they can watch TV2GO content on their laptop, smart television, tablet or mobile device, anytime, anywhere.
Soccer legend, Jomo Sono, president of Infinivy, was instrumental in bringing the platform to South Africa. He explains how TV2GO will change the local content market and why people will tune in to watch:
No subscriptions, only data costs
The platform is free in the sense that users don’t pay any subscription fees, but they still have to pay for data costs.
Sindy Snow (left) of Vodacom with Yaron Chen and Jono Sono (right) of Infinivy
Vodacom has partnered with TV2GO and is exploring ways to bring the content to its customers in a more seamless way. These include affordable vouchers for viewing, and embedding the platform in the Vodacom app.
“The trick is to listen to the people and ask the question of what do they want to see. What is the channel that they would watch? It’s about opening up the communication with the people and asking them what they want to see and then putting it on the platform,” explains Sindy Snow, digital advertising project manager at Vodacom.
People can answer this question and give content recommendations on TV2GO’s Facebook page.
For the company and its partners, the platform will make money through pre-roll adverts, with four to eight slots planned per three hour viewing window. The team is taking aim at any brand that is a potential advertiser that has money.
No competitors
Chen believes there are no direct competitors to TV2GO as “there’s no free television in the South African market” and because “it’s a new concept all over the world”. But he sees pay-TV as an indirect competitor.
He also admits that Netflix and Amazon have a huge library of videos and movies, and he sees them as complementary to TV2GO, rather than competitors, because the offerings are different.
How TV2GO arrived in South Africa
The journey began to years ago when Sono visited Israel on business. He saw TV2GO on the television, in the office he was visiting and upon finding out more information about it, believed it would be a perfect fit for South African audiences.
The technology behind the platform was developed five years ago by Israeli firm Cast-TV. Since then it has brought it to several markets outside of Israel, including Russia, Romania, Czech Republic, and now South Africa.
Plans are in place in the near future to introduce the platform to three other African markets, including Nigeria and Ethiopia.
Officially launched one month ago, TV2GO already has 30 000 users in South Africa.
themediaonline.co.za
Yet another video streaming service, TV2GO, launches in South Africa; free online streamer will try to compete with Netflix SA, Showmax and Amazon Prime Video.
Yet another video streaming service, TV2GO, plans to launch in South Africa and will try to succeed where several already failed as it will compete with other already-available subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services like Naspers' Showmax run by MultiChoice, Netflix South Africa, Amazon Prime Video, and some smaller services.
The former South African soccer player Jomo Sono is behind TV2GO that is currently busy with a "trial broadcast", with his Infinivy SA owning a 26% stake in TV2GO and the Israeli company Cast-TV owning the other 74%, headed up by Yaron Chen.
Infinivy SA and Cast-TV has the ambitious target of wanting to sign up 500 000 TV2GO viewers within a year in a market where VIDI, the Altech Node and PCCW Global's disastrous ONTAPtv.com along with several others have already spectacularly failed.
TV2GO is streaming through the web without any app and is offering viewers around 100 linear TV channels and VOD content for free. Users are subjected to advertising as the service's only formof revenue. TV2GO plans to also launch in the African countries of Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia within months.
The content streaming quality will depend on the broadband speed of users, and will range from low to as high as 1080p, depending on what video quality a channel is available in.
No specific channels or channel list for TV2GO has been announced, but Infinivy SA says TV2GO will "features movies, documentary, fashion, martial arts, gaming and kids channels" and will include streaming of TV news channels like euronews and africanews.
On the TV2GO site at www.tv2go.co.za, the service lists a channels carousel under various categories.
It ranges from Entertainment (FilmBox Extra, FashionBox, DocuBox, Fast&FunBox, FilmArthouseBox, GameToonBox, Lit Lifestyle, Veggies R Us, Best Life Luxury Channel, Fashion, Foodies, VICE, Munchies, Movember, That's the Tea, Wow!), to Education (African Truth, SA Chronicles, Exploring Africa, Safe Haven, A Man's World, World Changers, A Doccie a Day, Conspiracy, Crime), and Fun (Motor Channel, Drag Racing, Fashion Hacks, LOL TV, LFF, Gaming, Christians Laugh, Halloween).
The channels carousel includes Indian channels (Venus, Songs Bollywood, Bollywood Bai), Kids (Kids Play, Happy babies, WYZE MINDZ, Family Channel, Creative Mindz), Music (Iscathamiya, Umbhaqanga), News (euronews, africanews, Current Affairs, Good News, World News, Global Business, Authentic News), and Religion (Evidence of Christ, Christianity Today, Kingdom of Heaven, Youth in Christ, Bible Stories for Kids, Faith on Film, Islam, Judaism).
Under Sport it lists Basketball Channel, RedBull, Off-Road, WorldTVSport, Boxing, Cricket, Golf Channel, FightBox, Rugby Channel, Jomo Cosmos Ezenkosi, Football Channel, Athletics, and under the Science header it has Gadgets and Science.
Spirituality channels on TV2GO include Serenity, Divinity and Motiv8!.
TV2GO is a free streaming TV platform that has over 100 on demand channels and it has finally been launched in SA. Jomo Sono was listed as the current president of Infinivy SA a company that together with Cast-Tv backs up TechCentral and TechCentral reported that the platform is officially live in the country.
With the platform streaming live from the web and dedicated apps “TV2GO content line-up features movies, documentary, fashion, martial arts, gaming, and kids channels, which can be watched on the SPI network of channels.”Radio channels and music are also listed on the platform. “TV2GO offers an extraordinary user experience to watch their favourite programs anywhere, anytime, and on any device,” stated the release.
