Nuvyyo says service puts it a cut above as cable alternative

Cashing in on the cable-cutting trend has sent Ottawa’s Nuvyyo on an impressive path to growth.

Founded in 2010, Nuvyyo has created a device called the Tablo, which streams over-the-air television broadcasts to TVs and other devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops. It can also record those broadcasts for later viewing.

“We actually work with all the boxes and devices you’re using already to watch things,” says CEO Grant Hall.

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Nuvyyo’s hardware picks up an over-the-air signal from an antenna and streams it over a customer’s own network – in some cases up to six devices in a home.

Even as more and more Canadians turn away from traditional cable and satellite providers, Nuvyyo’s main customer base remains in the United States. About 95 per cent of its customers live south of the border.

“The U.S. just has way more broadcast stations, so it is way more concentrated,” Mr. Hall says. “Our average U.S. customer gets about 42 channels over the air, which is substantially more than what you get in most Canadian markets. So there is just more TV, and at the same time there is way more over-the-top video.”

Mr. Hall says Nuvyyo’s target in 2017 is to double its sales from last year, adding the company is on track to achieve that mark.

He credits much of that success to the company’s strong record of customer service. Four of the firm’s 18 employees specialize in customer support and can speak directly to engineering staff right away when there is an issue with a product.

Mr. Hall says Nuvyyo also focuses on building its brand through social media, specifically Facebook.

“We publish a lot of blog material,” he adds. “We try very much to be the main leader in this over-the-air cord-cutting space.”

But the company is not about to rest on its laurels, Mr. Hall says. Nuvyyo has a whole pipeline of new products ready to hit the market at the end of the second quarter.

One of those new offerings is a single tuner called the Tablo Live. It has a lower price point and stores recordings in the cloud, allowing customers to retrieve them anywhere without plugging in a hard drive or any other storage device. Mr. Hall says the new product is targeted at an older demographic and is designed to be very simple to use.

The other new offering is a software version of the Tablo DVR that supports Android TV platforms. Customers download the software and plug in a USB tuner to pick up signals for the full Tablo experience.

Nuvyyo also aims to start selling its products in retail stores in the coming year. But Mr. Hall says the firm is not focused on growth at all costs – instead, the company wants to be known as one that puts its customers’ needs first.

“There is really nobody else right now who has a streaming DVR that runs on apps and devices within your home,” he says. “Kind of the way the product works is unique in the industry.”