| i.TV, LLC | |
| Type: | Second screen |
| Key People: | Brad Pelo, co-founder and CEO Justin Whittaker, co-founder Carlton Cuse, Advisory Board Member |
| Products: | tvtag application software for iOS, i.TV application software for iOS, Android and Kindle Fire, Nintendo TVii for Nintendo Wii U (co-created with Nintendo), |
i.TV (pronounced i dot TV) is a second screen and social television technology company, and creator of tvtag, a second screen app for iPhone.[1] [2]
i.TV is also behind the popular namesake app for iOS[3] and Android,[4] [5] and is co-creator of Nintendo TVii for the Nintendo Wii U video game console.[6]
i.TV has standing partnerships with AOL, Huffington Post and Entertainment Weekly magazine (EW), for which it powered viEWer, a social television platform that enabled television viewers to interact with each other and EW editors,[7] and product integration agreements with TiVo,[8] Netflix,[9] Hulu,[10] and Comcast.[11]
i.TV's financial backers include venture capital firms Union Square Ventures (backer of Twitter, Tumblr and other companies), RRE Ventures, Rho Ventures, Time Warner Investments, DIRECTV, and others.[12]
i.TV's advisory board includes Carlton Cuse, executive producer of ABC's Lost and A&E's Bates Motel, who in 2010 was named to the Time 100, an annual list of the "100 most influential people in the world";[13] and Gordon Ho, former executive vice president of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.[14]
i.TV was founded in 2008 by Brad Pelo, who serves as CEO, and Justin Whittaker. Pelo previously co-founded Folio Corporation and served as founding CEO of the parent company of Ancestry.com,[15] among other ventures and projects.
In May 2011 i.TV and AOL together re-launched AOL's online destination for TV viewers, AOL TV, based on i.TV's technology platform. AOL TV receives 1.6 million hits per day.[16]
In November 2013 i.TV acquired GetGlue, maker of a leading second screen and social TV check-in platform.[17] Headquartered in New York City, GetGlue reportedly has over 4.5 million registered users.
In January 2014 i.TV launched tvtag, a second screen iPhone app that provides a feed of television moments that users can then share, doodle on and comment on in a variety of ways. These moments in a “tagline” are captured and curated by a team of 50 staffers.
A year later, tvtag was shut down.[18]