M-GO arrives on LG TVs, still ponders live TV service

M-Go, the movie service launched by Technicolor and DreamWorks earlier this year, is now available on LG TV sets. This marks the fourth major device partnership for M-Go, which is also available on Samsung, Vizio and Google TV sets. Now M-Go wants to refine its apps, starting with a new web app experience — and eventually launch additional content, including possibly live TV feeds.

M-Go offers users access to movies and TV show episodes from major Hollywood studios, which can be rented or bought outright. Of course, so do many others, including iTunes, Amazon, Vudu and Cinemanow.

So what sets M-Go apart from the competition? M-Go CEO John Batter told me during a recent interview that he is a big believer in personalization, which is why the company is also rolling out personal cards on its web app this week — think of it as a kind of Pinterest for your movies. Similar features are set to arrive on M-Go’s mobile and connected TV apps in the near future.

mgo_plus_02That’s cute, but not earth-shattering. More interesting are M-Go’s ambitious content plans. Executives told me at CES in January that they plan to eventually integrate a locker service which could give you access to personal content, as well as live TV. Those plans are still in place, acknowledged Batter: “Adding different content remains of interest to us,” he told me.

At the same time, he warned that getting deals for live TV content is anything but easy, something that competitors like Intel Media and Sony are currently experiencing as well. That’s why M-Go may look for slightly different approaches, possibly partnering with pay TV operators instead of competing with them. “We gotta figure out a way to fatten the value chain,” he said.

That’s why, for the time being, M-Go wants work on getting its transactional content offering right. But in 2014, we will see at least one form of additional content come to the service, promised Batter.

Check out an interview I did with Technicolor CEO Fred Rose about M-GO back in January:


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