Sezmi is a new set-top-box based subscription service that aims to bring together the best of broadcast, cable and internet content in one easy to use, personalised entertainment package.
Modeled more after the digital entertainment centre than traditional linear TV broadcasts, the system is based on a 1TB drive based media box and a powerful antenna box that looks like a speaker. Using newer WiFi technologies as a “broadcast” method, and the saving and sorting of content on the DVR as an access method, it allows for a very customised personal viewing experience in an interface that shows you choices and content based on your past choices and viewing patterns.
The device and service also act as an internet access point, choosing to limit viewing to content from partner sites such as YouTube, rather like a TV tuning into specific online channels rather than allowing a free reign of the web world.
With a growing number of viewers choosing to get their video fix off the internet rather than from cable and television, it remains to be seen whether the Sezmi model is one that will catch on and prove to be a viable threat to more traditional mediums. For now, the service has got its initial launch in the Los Angeles area, and media mavens will be keeping a sharp watch on whether this new kid on the block makes waves after providing one of the first major re-thinks of the video broadcast personal entertainment space. With many media empires already skating the edge of financial red after the collapse of the various newpapers and print publications, this new development will be studied by all with interest.