Evoca TV, a startup based in Meridan, Idaho that used a network of low-power ATSC 3.0 TV stations to offer a first of its kind over-the-air pay TV service, shut down on Dec. 31, after failing to receive additional funding to continue operations.
In an email to its customers, the company said "We are grateful for your support as we challenged the media monopolies to make regional sports and local content more accessible and affordable. Unfortunately, we could not secure the funding that we need to continue operations into 2023."
Evoca told its customers that it could keep its Android set-top boxes and would cease billing them the monthly $25 subscription fee.
The company, which was started by CEO Todd Achilles in 2020 was an attempt to build a business model upon the still emerging ATSC 3.0/NextGen TV standard that combines over-the-air broadcast with internet protocol. The standard is currently being deployed nationwide by broadcasters and is expected to reach 75% of U.S. households by the end of 2023.
Evoca was not just a service, however. It also worked with partners, like ENENSYS to work on new methods to greatly increase spectrum efficiency in the ATSC 3.0 domain. In April, 2022, it announced a demo it had conducted with its tech partners that used Multiple Input and Multiple Output, or "MIMO" to increase the availability of 4K or even 8K channels over NextGen TV.
Evoca was available in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and Michigan and offered a cable-type service that bundled local broadcast channels, some cable channels and RSNs. A year ago, it added Denver RSN Altitude Sports, and was among the cheapest—and only—ways to access the service, which has been in litigation with Comcast over a carriage dispute.
In early December, Achilles warned customers that a lack of new funding could force the service to shut down by the end of the year and at the time, had stopped signing up new customers.
“This is a difficult economy for a company like ours to raise the funding that we need to grow,” the company told its customers. “Should we be unable to raise more capital, we are sad to say that Evoca TV will discontinue operations and programming on December 31st, 2022.”
At the time, it had launched a change.org petition drive to “save” Evoca to garner customer support to keep the RSNs on Evoca. “Sign this petition and tell your favorite team’s owner to support Evoca and keep it on the air so fans always have an affordable, reliable way to watch,” the petition read. The petition logged just under 3,000 signatures.
