ICQ founders reveal Internet TV network - Haaretz

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Last update - 02:05 04/12/2007

ICQ founders reveal Internet TV network

By Maayan Cohen

Tags: high tech, ICQ, Israel

Like any self-respecting startup, KnockaTV has a wild idea, clever technology and a twist. The twist is how it got its name. When Nir Erlich and Sefi Visiger were considering the subject, a neighbor's Schnauzer bitch jumped onto Visiger's lap. Guess what her name was. At first just a nickname for the startup, it's now official.

A decade after setting the online world on fire with their breakthrough messaging program ICQ (an acronym for I-seek-you), Visiger, Erlich, Yair Goldfinger and Arik Vardi are cooperating again, this time on Internet television. Their concept is for surfers and professionals alike to upload content, which undergoes a packaging and rating process, and then gets broadcast like regular television.

"When ICQ paved the way for instant messaging, we knew we were fulfilling a need of people who wanted to share written information over the Internet," explains Visiger. "Now we're doing the same thing with the next generation of Internet users, who consume video online, [they're] sophisticated viewers who know what they like and create content, and still feel the need to share and create together. We created the appropriate platform, and are now opening it to the community to form new formats, channels and content. KnockaTV brings together creative people from all over the Internet to jointly produce the first professional TV network created by users. That is the Knocka revolution."

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Their first startup, Mirabilis of Tel Aviv where ICQ was created, was sold to America Online for $407 million, a stunning sum at the time. Some of KnockaTV's 27 people originate from Mirabilis. The startup operates entirely in Israel but some of its television operations may move to the United States if and when it expands.

KnockaTV has launched the alpha version of its website, accessible as a pilot run to about 5,000 people. The true website should be up in a few months.

Erlich and Visiger formed the company a year ago and were joined by Vardi and Goldfinger as passive investors. Amnon Amir, also a power behind ICQ, is involved in the product development but holds no official title. So far KnockaTV has raised $5 million, in a financing round led by the Evergreen venture capital fund.

The KnockaTV concept is 100 percent browser-based. Sources of professional television material include Ministry of Sound, Shocking Humor and more. The startup intends starting with three channels: Knocka One, presenting the "Best of" genre - the best shows on Internet; Kilo Watt, a music channel; and Candy, a channel devoted to professional and amateur fashion models. In the future KnockaTV intends to add more channels, based on public demand.

The KnockaTV community of users is key to the concept. They will not only be a source of material but will also rate the content uploaded by surfers. Material that receives a high rating will be edited and broadcast on the channels. In other words, any surfer can offer any content to the KnockaTV channels, and any surfer can influence the decision as to which clips actually get shown.

The site will also be offering text chat rooms, video chat rooms and instant messaging, as is only proper for the progenitors of ICQ. Its business model is based on advertising.

"Knocka's purpose is to do something unique in the video market," Erlich told TheMarker. "The market has already become crowded but we saw the potential in users who watch video online, and naturally the use that a community of creative people would make."

What problem is KnockaTV solving? The Internetbrims with video content. How do you find good stuff? One way was friends chancing on something cool and emailing each other, another was searching.

"What we're trying to do is to solve these problems, package the content and submit it, in one place, and to create an experience of togetherness," says Erlich. "Instead of an infinite number of channels, we'll take a few professional ones and turn them into a pro TV network created by users."

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