Insolvent video startup make.tv to avoid the deadpool, apparently

[Germany] Cologne’s streaming video startup make.tv, which filed for insolvency in September, can apparently avoid the deadpool. The company has been given a second chance with new partners and will survive, says founder Andreas Constantin Meyer.

Two weeks ago, he countered rumours via a blog post with a defiant WE WILL CONTINUE! Now we hear that make.tv’s insolvency will not be its end because Meyer is in negotiations “with interested parties and partners”. The talks seem so advanced that Meyer says with certainty that make.tv will continue in someway or another but conveniently doesn’t go into details.

Browser based make.tv control room.One option could be the continuation of make.tv as an independent project but with a new structure, new partners and probably tied to another company. Another possibility is that the company will be absorbed by another video service provider. But as a standalone platform, make.tv is apparently unable to survive. The service had only 60 paying customers but a lot more users of the free version.

To broadcast live, users need nothing more than a webcam or video camera connected to a laptop running a web browser. No extra hardware or software is necessary. Make.tv’s pricing, from €0 to €199 per month, attracted small businesses, musicians and event organizers, but also renowned users like the German Liberal Party (FDP), the Catholic church or one of Germany’s biggest tv stations, ZDF. But since its inception in November 2007, make.tv has appealed to far less users than planned. Paying customers were clearly sparse.

The 15 strong company received an undisclosed sum from public-private VC High-Tech Gründerfonds in November 2008, which combines investments from the German Federal Ministry for Economy and Technology, the KfW Banking Group as well as industry companies BASF, Robert Bosch, Carl Zeiss, Daimler, Deutsche Telekom and Siemens.