Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings are planning to invest in a smart-TV start-up, Whaley Technology owned by China Media Capital, to jointly tap smart-TV ecosystem, reported Wall Street Journal.
Whaley which was launched earlier this year will launch TV sets this month. The TV sets are being designed by a Chinese team and made by TPV Technology, PC monitor and LCD TV manufacturer in China.
Alibaba and Tencent will also facilitate Whaley to develop content. Smart-TV sets will offer content that CMC owns and content from its partners namely Time Warner, Oriental DreamWorks, STAR China, China Sports Media and Hong Kong’s TVB. Over time, Whaley plans to add more content from various other partners.
“We want to disrupt and restructure this industry,” said Li Ruigang, Chairman of China Media Capital. According to him, Whaley was established with an aim to dominate the value chain, providing everything from content and manufacturing to distribution. Whaley’s business model involves collecting viewer data to help determine which products and services its customers might like, he added.
“In the future, technology will improve and costs will keep falling,” Li said. “But understanding content will always be the most important thing, and that’s what we are good at.”
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