French video platform Molotov, founded by Canal Plus creator Pierre Lescure, now the director of the Cannes Film Festival, and movie portal Allocine founder Jean-David Blanc, aims to raise around EUR 100 million for an innovative SVoD service. Bloomberg reports that the co-founders plan to raise the money by early 2016 and launch the service by October. A June report named four co-founders and said that the tests would start this autumn.
They said deals are in place with all major French broadcasters. Working on a internet connected device, Molotov displays several live TV channels simultaneously, allowing viewers to navigate more easily. The service aims to offer broadcasters another market for their output in a declining TV advertising market.
“Shows don’t get watched and billions go to waste in broadcaster money, not because content is bad, because the remote control needs a replacement.” Besides live TV, Molotov subscribers will be able to record, use catch-up TV and share over social networks.
Molotov raised EUR 10 million from angel investors around two years ago. It aims to generate revenue from a commission on the pay TV subscriptions its sells through its platform and is considering charging for extras like cloud storage.
