Written by Liz Gannes
Posted Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 2:53 PM PT

TidalTV Raises $15M to Bring TV to Web

Advertising.com alums have raised $15 million from New Enterprise Associates and Valhalla Partners to launch an online video platform using premium television content called TidalTV (just a landing site for now, supposed to go into beta next month).

The company is to run traditional channels as well as specialized channels, such as a CSI-only offering, according to the Baltimore Business Journal. It hasn’t announced any content deals yet.

The service will be web-based but also controlled by a remote. TidalTV is saying it is more similar to Hulu than Joost. But since it’s using the language of traditional linear channels, instead of on-demand, it seems more like Zattoo in Europe. Once we talk to TidalTV hopefully we can sort that out.

With its heritage, TidalTV is especially focused on advertising, and promises targeted and interactive ads. Scott Ferber, co-founder of Advertising.com, founded the company, and Mollie Spilman, a former Advertising.com executive, is CEO. Bob Quicksilver, former president of network distribution at FOX, will serves as chief content officer.

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Topic: Money & Power, Startups

Comments (2)

Where do these NewTV ventures get their names?

TidalTV.com?

Joost.com?

Hulu

One sounds like laundry soap. The other sounds like an energy drink. The last sounds like a dance.

Non of the NewTV companies I have read about lateley actually has a name the conveys the image of a NewTV venture.

Daniel — 4:06 PM on February 26, 2008 Reply
So Google and Yahoo are names that originally conveyed the image of Online Search?

Jeff — 3:54 AM on February 27, 2008 Reply

Linkbacks (3)

[...] TidalTV secures $15M. TidalTV, a new broadband video startup specializing in professionally produced content, has secured a large angel round of funding led by New Enterprise Associates and Valhalla Partners, the company announced on Tuesday. TidalTV hopes to produce “the best in professionally produced, branded programming.” The service will be web-based but also controlled by a remote. TidalTV is saying it is more similar to Hulu than Joost. But since it’s using the language of traditional linear channels, instead of on-demand, it seems more like Zattoo in Europe. Once we talk to TidalTV hopefully we can sort that out. Another player in the professionally-produced online video arena is Deca but Deca works with several other sites to produce content rather than having its own main hub, which TidalTV will have. The larger sites such as YouTube rely on user-generated content over professionally-produced originals. Source:VentureBeat. Read more at Mashable!, NewTeeVee [...]

Deal RoundUp: Feb 27, 2008 - HiveLive, ProofPoint… — 8:36 PM on February 28, 2008
[...] TV Launches Beta, But CEO Leaves Tidal TV, a startup trying to compete with Hulu and Joost with its offer of premium content, launched in beta last week. But just a couple days later, its CEO, Mollie Spilman, stepped down, [...]

Tidal TV Launches Beta, But CEO Leaves «… — 1:20 PM on June 17, 2008
[...] bent (its founder and CEO, Scott Ferber, was also co-founder and CEO of Advertising.com), when we first covered the company, it also had aspirations to be the next Hulu, offering long-form premium [...]

TidalTV Raises $8.9M; Hammer’s DanceJam… — 3:46 PM on October 16, 2009