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MobiTV Aims To Raise $75M In IPO

Ready for its close-up, mobile TV and video platform MobiTV just filed its S-1 with the SEC. In the public offering, MobiTV plans to raise as much as $75 million.

"Unlike Netflix, Hulu and the rest, MobiTV's main business has been powering other companies' mobile TV services," reports paidContent. "Unfortunately, MobiTV has yet to make a profit," TechCrunch points out. "The company has taken a loss for the past three years."

Also, MobiTV "warns in the filing that it depends on three customers, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, for most of its revenue," TechCrunch adds. "To make matters worse, beginning September 2012, MobiTV's agreement with Sprint converts to a month-to-month contract."

Under the headline, "MobiTV's IPO filing is not a pretty picture," GigaOm writes: "MobiTV suffers a severe lack of diversity in its revenue streams, and faces the distinct possibility that it could lose all of its distribution partners under contract over the next 18 months."

Muddying the waters further, "MobiTV also has high expenses because of costs to build out and maintain a network," Bloomberg writes. "Operating expenses were $44.8 million in the first two quarters, and total net losses for the past three years were $54.5 million, the company said in its filing."

Founded back in 1999, the company now boasts partnerships with NBC, ESPN, Disney, CBS, and Warner Music, to name a few. According to the filing, meanwhile, the company is the national provider of mobile television services for AT&T U-verse Live TV, NFL Mobile on Verizon, Sprint TV and T-Mobile TV, among others.

For 2010, MobiTV's total revenue was $66.8 million, while, in the six months ended June 30, the company made $37 million. In 2008, 2009, and 2010, however, the company posted losses of $25 million, $14.6 million and $14.7 million, respectively. In the first six months of 2011, meanwhile, MobiTV lost $8 million.

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