Not content with being a leader in the over-the-air TV antenna market, Mohu recently launched and then completed a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a new product designed to combine OTA TV with web video services. Now we know that the new Mohu Channels device will retail for $149.99 and is targeted for commercial launch in the third quarter of this year.
Mohu announced some time ago that Kickstarter participants would receive their Android-powered Channels device come June. Our own Adam Miarka got in on the deal for $89 as an early backer, and while he doesn’t have the product in hand yet, there are signs that shipments are coming soon. A Twitter status update on June 20th said “Our engineers were hard at work yesterday, boxing up your Channels units!” A customer support representative also noted that the Kickstarter orders “are going out shortly.”
That same CSR was also the one to tell us that the company is planning for general availability in the third quarter. The newly disclosed price point is thanks to a product page now available on the Mohu site.
The $150 price tag for the Mohu Channel adapter sounds a bit steep given all of the other media streamers on the market, but I do think the device could be disruptive *if* it can deliver a clean user experience. As I said in April, “For the contingent of TV viewers who want broadcast TV and their $8 Netflix subscription, the Mohu device will put all of that content in one place on the living-room flat screen. Mohu isn’t offering DVR or multiscreen services (at least not yet), but it will appeal to the same audience with the Channels TV adapter as Aereo has with its monthly service. And with Mohu, there’s no additional monthly fee, and no cloud of legal drama.”