Streaming with NFTs changes ownership: Tony Mugavero

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Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are dead! However, only the NFTs that relied on hype, speculation, and quick gains have been phased out, and with Rad TV, Tony Mugavero is utilizing NFTs to change the idea of ownership of digital content.

Today, most people subscribe to at least half a dozen streaming sites to enjoy their favorite shows, movies, and music. However, this subscription is ultimately at the mercy of the streaming sites as they can take the content away at will. This starkly contrasts to when users purchased a movie or a music album and owned it permanently.

What if you could get the best of both worlds? This is exactly what Mugavero has been working towards with Rad TV (formerly Rad NFTV), a streaming platform available on all major platforms, from Apple TV and iOS to Android TVs and mobile to PlayStation and MetaQuest.

While the NFT hype may have tainted these digital tokens, Mugavero believes that they created real value via the smart contracts they enable. In the video content sector, these NFTs are being utilized to dictate “who’s getting paid what and when,” he told CoinGeek Backstage reporter Becky Liggero.

“We took the idea of what was just a JPEG on the blockchain and said that we should be able to wrap a video in a smart contract using the same tech and then add multiple payouts into the same smart contract so that the writer, the director, the actors, the agents and everybody else can get paid,” Mugavero said. 

He insisted that a good product should not have to advertise the underlying technology and should focus on the user experience. With Rad TV, the users barely have to know that blockchain is being used—instead, it’s the appeal of instantaneous micropayments that lures them.

Rad TV was initially built on the Ethereum network. However, within months, Mugavero and his team encountered the same challenge hundreds of others do: Ethereum can’t scale. For an on-chain streaming service, enterprise scaling is a foundational requirement, pushing Mugavero to explore alternatives. BSV blockchain emerged as the only network to scale enough to power Rad TV’s streaming needs while processing micropayments worth a few cents.

Mugavero intends to flip the current model where users pay a set amount to one streaming service provider for a new model where the monthly fee is regarded as credits, which are paid in tiny portions to various providers and creators for the content consumed.

“With us launching the subscription as an NFT, they pay one time, and they load that all into a pass. If they are no longer using the subscription, they can resell it to somebody else who wants that access,” he said. 

Watch: Promoting blockchain-based streaming with Rad TV