Tag Archives | Sezmi

So Much for Sezmi's Cable Killer

Posted by Jared Newman on December 20, 2010 at 10:03 am

Sezmi’s “Select Plus” package, which included a bunch of popular pay TV stations for a fraction of what cable costs, is going down the tubes.

If you haven’t heard of Sezmi, that’s because the service is rolling out slowly and inconspicuously, starting in Los Angeles and now available in 36 U.S. markets. By cutting deals with local broadcasters and cable networks, Sezmi Select Plus delivered pay TV channels over the air through a special antenna box for $20 per month with a $150 hardware bundle, which includes a DVR.

Now, VideoNuze reports that Select Plus, which included channels like Comedy Central, CNN and Discovery, will be discontinued in the United States.

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Sezmi Launches Into Retail in Los Angeles

Posted by Dave Z on February 18, 2010 at 8:54 pm

Having piloted their “personal TV service” in Los Angeles since November, Sezmi is formally launching into the LA market today via local Best Buy outposts.
Last month at CES, I finally got a look at their product… which pulls together local other-the-air (OTA) programming, premium programming (such as CNN and SyFy) simulcast OTA in select markets, and Internet-sourced content including CinemaNow VOD and YouTube. Their vision is solid, and more holistic than most, likely embodying the future of home entertainment by aggregating multiple content sources within a personalized presentation for each family member (or housemate).
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Is Sezmi a Cable TV Killer?

Posted by Harry McCracken on November 16, 2009 at 3:00 am

Sezmi LogoI’ve written periodically of my flirtation with dumping cable for an Internet-only approach to my TV watching. I haven’t, however, pulled the trigger–mostly because cable still has a lot of live programming, such as news and sports, that I can’t replicate over the Net alone.

That’s why I’m intrigued by Sezmi, a TV service that’s announcing that it’s rolling out to its first real customers (in Los Angeles). The service aims to provide a more personalized, Net-savvy, inexpensive alternative to cable and satellite–complete with the real broadcast and cable channels you can’t get from Apple TV, Roku, or Vudu. It does so via a 1TB DVR/set-top box that provides access to three types of TV sources: broadcast stations, cable channels, and Internet content. (It snags the first two kinds over the air, via a powerful antenna in a box that looks like a loudspeaker: Sezmi simply grabs local broadcast channels as is, and the company is leasing spectrum from local broadcasters to transmit cable channels–including both standard-def and HD.)

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