David Frank’s Dial Square launching virtual market

Dial Square 86, the media investment company run by David and Matthew Frank, is launching a digital platform that will allow distributors and buyers to work together within a new ‘virtual market’.

The roll out of TRX is a reaction to a need to ‘overhaul’ the TV distribution business, the company said.

Dial Square said TRX would harness technology used outside of the TV business and allow buyers to view programming as well as cover off payment and delivery. It will have a particular focus on allowing distributors to monetise their libraries and maximise the value of secondary rights.

Content owners and buyers can access the service for free and TRX will take a 10% fee on deals that are finalised.

“It will facilitate potentially huge numbers of transactions that were previously impossible, allowing distributors to monetise under-exploited ‘back’ catalogue content and connect smaller broadcasters, typically from emerging markets, to gain access to content that was previously denied or difficult,” Dial Square said in a press release.

The tech has been developed in association with digital agency Mint and is currently being beta tested with a handful of clients. Dial Square said testing will continue into the autumn with an official launch at an as yet undisclosed later date.

Dial Square chiefs and seasoned distribution execs David and Matthew Frank and Nigel Pickard will run TRX.

“TRX has been born out of a universal recognition that the way the distribution industry operates is in need of an overhaul. In the last few years, hundreds of new broadcasters have entered the market place pushing up the volume of deals being done but pushing down the value per transaction,” said David Frank (right), the former Zodiak Media CEO.

“The traditional distributor business model – sales teams transacting person-to-person – is struggling for bandwidth to manage the increase in the number of buyers. Consequently many rights holders understandably prioritise selling high value rights to high value buyers, but this can leave the long tail rights underexploited. TRX can transform the way we trade in content rights – providing service and value to all participants, regardless of size, budget or location.”