Blockchain startup, Xfinite says they are launching a next-generation on-demand digital platform for movies, TV shows, sports, games and other entertainment. The companies’ decentralised, blockchain-enhanced system is, they claim, designed to better meet the viewing trends of today’s digital content consumers while addressing limitations in current media production and distribution models.

Mario Alberto Casiraghi, chief strategy officer of Xfinite, said:

“Our goal is to make premium, exclusive content freely available for everyone, which we will seek to do by redefining the relationship between content producers, brands and viewers. By creating a mutually beneficial system, we will give users a better experience, brands more effective data, and content producers the ability to get appropriately compensated for their work”.

In Xfinite’s view, the provision of entertainment-based content is characterised by market fragmentation and competitive and structural restrictions that inhibit consumer access and choice. Why should it be that consumers require multiple subscriptions to access the range of TV shows they really want to watch?

Cost barriers fuel piracy and illegal file sharing, so that content producers aren’t properly compensated, and the market is funded by advertising that is increasingly being ignored or blocked by its target consumers. Brands are craving a more direct, insight-rich and effective relationship with viewers of their ads.

The Xfinite platform will seek to resolve these problems by harnessing the opportunities offered by blockchain to create a more transparent system for all. Its proof protocols make it possible to accurately track usage and watch rates, deliver real-time engagement data, and reward users for watching and participating. Through its platform, Xfinite aim to deliver proper compensation to content owners, greater insight to brands and real utility and choice to users, while removing the incentive for piracy.

Xfinite is in discussions to enter into strategic licencing agreements with market-leading entertainment producers, in order to provide its community with access to a broad range of exclusive, premium content from day one. It will initially target consumers in Asia and the Middle East, where the high growth rate of smartphone adoption, combined with faster and broader internet availability, is behind the dramatic increase in consumption of streaming media content.

Xfinite is considering taking advantage of Malta´s new blockchain legal framework that allows companies like Xfinite to operate in a regulated environment. Xfinite will establish a presence in Malta and is working closely with its legal advisors and other parties there to develop an appropriate corporate framework.

Malta’s Junior Minister for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation within the Office of the Prime Minister, Silvio Schembri, expressed his satisfaction over Xfinite’s decision to join Malta’s Blockchain ecosystem and apply under the Virtual Financial Asset Act, which will be put into effect on November 1, 2018. “I look forward to seeing the company applying for all the necessary licenses and being part of the public consultation currently carried out by the Malta Digital Innovation Authority to start registering service providers and blockchain applications. Our aim is to be at the forefront of moving distributed ledger technology into the mainstream and we believe our new legal framework provides for a welcoming environment for blockchain businesses,” said Schembri.