ZilionTV expands pilot program, delays product launch
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted October 26th 2009 10:16AM
posted October 26th 2009 10:16AM
Here we are plunged headlong into Q4 and we know what you're thinking: "What's up with ZillionTV?" You know, the company that whetted our appetites with its promise of a "free" (unless you count the one-time $99 setup fee as free, which we don't), ad-based streaming content and whose finely rendered set-top boxes were due out before the end of the year? According to a hot tip sent to Zatz Not Funny!, the company's pilot program is not only in full swing, but expanding -- that's the good news. Unfortunately, it looks like there is quite a bit of turmoil within the company itself that might serve to delay the device beyond even its new estimated 2010 target date, including: a 30 staff reduction, a new CEO, and the fact that the sexy product renders have been superseded by a box that looks, well, about as un-sexy as you can get. We'll keep our ears to the ground on this story -- in the meantime, there are a couple more pics after the break to tide you over.
i received a beta invite last week. i'll order my zilliontv box sometime next month, the email says I have until december 31st to do so. also the points system for watching ads starts jan 2010
I thought this had something to do with the Sega Master game, Zillion. :-(
lol na, zillion is hulu on steroids. they even have warner bros as a partner which hulu does not.
ZillionTV strikes Lionsgate pact
[sb - rdf 4] ZillionTV, the US video-on-demand set-top box start-up, has signed Lionsgate as its latest content partner after last week replacing its CEO.
The company, which last month pushed back its commercial launch date, will gain TV titles including Mad Men and Weeds via the Lionsgate deal, plus movies such as Rambo.
Lionsgate joins the likes of Disney-ABC, 20th Century Fox Television, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros, which all signed up as Zillion partners in the first quarter of this year.
Zillion said in September that it was postponing its consumer debut till the second half of next year and shifting its commercial model beyond relying on distribution through internet service providers.
Last week, the company confirmed that Jack Lawrence was taking over from current CEO Mitch Berman and will oversee Zillion's day-to-day operations and fundraising moving forwards. Berman, a TV veteran who helped set up E!, stays on as executive chairman. The move comes after the company laid off 30% of its staff at the beginning of the month.
Ed Waller
26 Oct 2009
http://www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=89&article=52631 sorry forgot to post source link
I got an e-mail from them last week extending the offer to be a beta tester. My "box" is being shipped and I should get it this week. If I don't like what I see, I have either 30 or 90 days (memory fail) to return it and cancel my subscription for a full $99 refund. After I get some time with it, I will post a review.
To those who got in, what domain did the email come from? I think my spam filter caught it and I am not seeing it.
Thanks
Let me get this straight. You help them out with Beta testing, and then you still have to pay to use it? What kind of deal is that?
I've had mine for a few weeks now, and it's done nothing but sit on the shelf. Let me start by saying that the box/service has a tremendous amount of potential, but in its current form has managed to underwhelm me to a point where it has been sitting on the shelf doing nothing since a few short days after I installed. The library seems good enough: newer movies (although I couldn't find some of the titles they fly around the screen on their homepage) and tv shows, but 99% of what you would WANT to watch doesn't have the ad-supported option. Pretty much everything worthwhile requires that you rent/buy. I don't remember the pricing off the top of my head, but it's similar to iTunes, and if I wanted that I would spend the extra $130 on an AppleTV (Yes, I know the $100 pilot cost is $50 more than their target release price). Their site does explain that the pricing and ad-supported options are mostly controlled by the content owners (WB, ABC-Disney, NBC, etc) and it's possible that they may not have any choice at the moment. It was simply a little disappointing to have the rest of the site and all the 'welcome aboard' emails sell me on (what I hope to god is) the ultimate goal for the product while inviting me to a rather expensive pilot (not beta.. pilot) program without warning that there is apparently a good amount of negotiation still going on somewhere to get the service to a level they're hoping for. I wish them the best of luck, and will continue to power on my box every couple of weeks to check for changes, but I don't think it'll be replacing any equipment in my entertainment center anytime soon.
evilsparc
i thought everything was supposed to be free with targed commercials
and also pay to rent or buy without ads
I thought so too. :-(
They definitely ask you to fill out your targeted ad preferences when you sign up, and those come through when you watch the ad-supported junk, but like I said, anything current (tv/movie released in the last 20 years or so) seems to only have the option to rent/buy. Unless they've changed something in the last week or two, that's still the way it is. Quality of the pay stuff isn't bad, but again, if I'm paying for TV/Movies I might as well go with iTunes or something that gives me half a chance of taking the media with me if I have to travel.
I have to second all the comments made by evilsparc, this product has totally underwhelmed me. I was expecting lots of free content supported by ads, but most has ended up being for rent/own. I can much more easily watch the same NBC content for free from Hulu with the ads. Why would I pay the $99 for a box that does nothing but offer the same thing that my AppleTV already does. I will be returning mine for sure. Better hurry as its been almost a month now and I am guessing that the will not make it simple since they are probably trying to keep the company alive with this so called beta program that costs everyone $99
Spell check title please. Zillion not Zilion.
Disregard my other post, I just signed up for the beta again and it popped right through, doesn't look like I got accepted. :( I have been wanting to do this since I first seen it posted here. O well.. I guess I can wait.
BTW the domain is zilliontv.com if anyone else needs it.
btw, their web site is "http://www.zilliontv.tv/", NOT "zilliontv.com".
I received the beta invitation and whipped out my credit card immediately. After all, I had been waiting for ZillionTV to get off the ground for what seemed like ages. But I thought, hang on, I should at least read a couple of reviews and see how the service turned out. Well, there are no reviews. No guided tours. No screenshots worth anything. No long lists of available programs. Nothing.
Somewhat reluctantly, the credit card went back in my wallet while I continued researching the situation ... I REALLY wanted an alternative to my AppleTV. But the more I read, the more the warning bells started ringing -- staff layoffs, management changes, launch delays... it didn't look good. I sent an email... no response. I remembered that they started a fan page on Facebook but that page is dead too.
Guys... a lot of us want you to succeed. And we'd love to help, with testing, feedback, reviews, evangelism, whatever. But you need to be more open. Start a blog. Build a community. Offer early-adopter incentives. Don't give us a dumb sticker or something, make it worth our while. A limited-time discount, a lifetime bonus multiplier for advertising credits, three free movies a month... whatever. This is your advertising, so be creative!
If it comes with the Zillion anime series onboard, I'm all over this.
does it, unlike the dozen other 'incredible media boxes', play local media off a server? Vudu has promised this function for a year. Others ignore it. Until I can buy ONE box that will give me online and local media, I am not spending a dime.
That being said, the PS3 just added Netflix (coming next month), and I can watch hulu, youtube, and local media already on it...
(same on my WDTV Live)...
I've had the same expereince as evilsparc. Great UI; Not so crazy about the Wii type remote; Lot of options if you are willing to pay; Ad supported shows are almost non-existant. I'm ready to send mine back but Zillion is not returning messages from the only 2 points of contact they give current useres (e-mail and on-line form submittals). Don't do it unless you want to throw $99 away.
@WDEESE: I guess it's comforting to hear that I'm not crazy. One of these days I'm going to try and track down the user forums they talked about in the 'welcome' email and see what everyone else has to say about theirs and if there's been any kind of response from the company.
As for the support, I'm sorry to hear you're running into issues, especially since it's for a return which is time sensitive, but I've had pretty good luck with email. Granted I've only had to do it once and it was for a technical specification they didn't include in the manual (802.11n is supported, btw), but the response was pretty quick (1-3 hours).
Thank you for your comments about the service, as I was under the impression that 100% of the programming was ad supported and you didnt have to purchase anything. I also was under the impression that you could watch "live" tv, like sports and other types of programming, but this sounds like another run of the mill type thing, like hulu, etc. where you have to wait a day or so until the content is available.
As soon as something like that is availability i will switch, but until then I will keep getting screwed by Directv.
If its not streaming uncencored japanese porn :D, I DON'T WANT IT. Especially for $99 bucks.