Otto, I think the one thing you may be failing to take into account is the current positioning of Telvue in a rapidly changing and evolving market. The delivery of video material to a variey of viewing devices, on-demand, in real time is rapidly becoming the requirement for anyone with program material who wishes to retain an audience for their stuff (and therefore, their advertisers). I will acknowledge that many mis-steps have been made by this company along the way, but, in my opinion, they are sitting right in the path that everyone has to follow if they want to remain viable in the video on demand genre.
Within the past month, an acquaintance, on my recommendation, bought a Roku box to augment his cable TV viewing. What he found was that his family's entire viewing schedule was available using two premium OTT portals available over Roku, plus over the air signals for the regular network shows. Although this guy is as stuck in his ways as you can get, he also could see the economic sense in the VOD technology. He has cancelled his cable TV contract and is now using Roku and over the air signals in its place, at a cost of 1/6 the previous service he was using.
It is my own view, after having had a similar eperience, that the move to OTT and VOD is inevitable given the exorbitant fees that US cable providers currently charge. I don't know how such things are handled in Europe, but here in the US, a family can easily incur a bill of more than $100 per month for fairly basic cable service. In my own case, I currently pay $0 per month. My acquaintance now pays $18 per month for premium Roku channels total. This technology is, in my view, a disruptive technology. One which fundamentally changes the way things are done.
I am willing to watch and wait a while as Gerry and his team undertake what is needed to establish themselves as a major player in this field. They already provide the hardware and services needed to establish dominance, if they are smart enough to execute the needed actions.
My own experience has given me a view of what MIGHT happen in this case. Many years ago, I had an early position with a technology company which never went public. It too had a billionaire backer. They dragged along for years while their angel backer and a couple of VC's kept feeding it money. They kept developing the technology and patenting everything they developed. They basically became the gatekeeper to entry into the disruptive technology they had developed. When the time was right, they sold out to a major player in the field. It took me nearly a decade, but, for me, it was a 200 bagger.
I am hoping to do that again in the modern era to allow me to retire comfortably. Will Telvue do that for me? No guarantees, just as with any stock. But, I am holding my position for now until I am sure I know how this new arena will develop. That is a horizon of years, not days or weeks.
And, I can tell you from the battle being waged for control of other boards, someone appears to me to be very nervous that this company will succeed.
