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Source: ONE News
Clicker.com launched a TV Guide for internet television,
designed to provide a new way to find everything from old Seinfeld
episodes to cooking shows.
"What is TV Guide for the next generation going to look like?"
asked Chief Executive Jim Lanzone.
He is aiming for a comprehensive internet guide that makes it easy
to find programs, save them, click to them and get reminders.
Of course, the real TV Guide - once a highly popular printed
listing of television programs sold at grocery stores across the
country - still exists as a website of its own.
And there are lots of other choices for consumers.
YouTube has videos, Hulu offers network TV programming and other
material, BuddyTV offers listings and TV news, Channels.com
advertises no more hunting for videos.
And there are video search engines like Truveo and BlinX.
"There are sites where you can watch programs, and there are a
range of sites that touch all the different pieces, but I am
unaware of anyone who does all of these things," said Greg
Sterling, of Sterling Market Intelligence.
He said that Clicker seems to be a candidate.
The company has $10 million in backing led by two venture capital
firms, Benchmark Capital and Redpoint Ventures.
Lanzone sees video moving away from ordinary television and more
and more to the Web in coming years, making a service like
Clicker.com ever more of a necessity.
The Clicker.com database allows consumers to chose programs in many
ways, as well as enabling a form of social networking - a necessity
in the latest web companies.
Allen Weiner, an analyst with Gartner, said Clicker.com wants to be
the interface between the consumer and video channels and that it
takes a much more holistic view than others.
But he said if Clicker.com is successful it can expect competition
from major high tech firms like Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc and
possibly from TV makers.
And he believes the task Clicker.com faces is tough.
"This is a market that has to prove itself. It is not easy to be
comprehensive, and it's not easy to update material."
