“Unfavourable” market conditions drive MobiTV to abandon IPO plans

Editor | 16-07-2012

Despite general optimism regarding mobile TV, premium end-to-end mobile media solutions provider MobiTV has been forced to shelve its plans to float, citing “unfavourable market conditions.”
The new comes only days afterresearch from The Mobile Content Venture(MCV), a joint venture comprising the 12 major broadcast groups that operate the Dyle mobile TV service, found that almost 70% of respondents said live mobile TV would increase the amount of television they watch and of whom 85% have watched live TV in the past month.

Yet despite this sign of clear demand for mobile TV, dropping the IPO is somewhat of a disappointment for the market given that MobiTV has been one of the leaders in mobile video and TV over the last five years and can offer precisely the type of ability the MCV survey says is in demand. That is not just live mobile TV but also VOD and the ability to download-and-store content for offline viewing to users on all major wireless networks and major mobile operating systems.
In a letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, William Losch, MobiTV Chief Financial Officer asked that the floatation Registration Statement (333-176586) initially filed on 31 August 2011 be “withdrawn effective immediately.” Losch added: “The Company is seeking withdrawal of the Registration Statement because of unfavourable market conditions. The Registration Statement has not been declared effective and none of the Company’s securities has been sold pursuant to the Registration Statement.”

However, hinting that the IP may not be totally lost, Losch requested the SEC that all fees paid by MobiTV in connection with the filing of the Registration Statement be credited for future use.