DIRECTV may be considering launching a YouTube-like TV channel that would display user-generated photos and videos, according to company documents filed with the U.S Patent & Trademark Office.
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The satcaster has filed for a trademark for a channel that would be called, ‘My View.’ In the trademark request, DIRECTV says My View would be an online social networking service and one of the trademark’s uses would be for “generated content in the form of user-generated photos and videos delivered on a dedicated subscription-based television channel.”
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Asked if DIRECTV was planning to launch a YouTube-like channel under the name, My View, AT&T spokesman Fletcher Cook last night refused to comment.
It should be noted that companies sometime submit trademark applications for businesses that never get off the ground. But there may be reason to believe this effort is serious and time-sensitive.
DIRECTV, which is owned by AT&T, originally filed for the My View trademark in January 2015, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office suspended consideration of the request in October 2015 when it discovered a pending application for My View from another company, Brocade Communications, a data and storage firm.
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DIRECTV did not respond to the trademark office’s decision for 18 months and its trademark request for ‘My View’ appeared to be dead.
However, on May 24, 2017, AT&T, acting on DIRECTV’s behalf, suddenly asked the trademark office to reconsider its suspension.
A week later, the trademark office noted that Brocade had abandoned its request for My View in May 2016. Consequently, the trademark office recommended that DIRECTV’s trademark request be approved for publication, which is a major step to final approval. (‘Approved for publication’ means the examining attorney for the trademark office has approved the trademark request. )
If no one files a letter in opposition to DIRECTV’s request within 30 days of publication in the USPTO’s Official Gazette, the trademark office will likely then give the satcaster a ‘service mark.’ That would enable DIRECTV to begin using the ‘My View’ name until the final trademark is approved.
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There is no indication in the trademark filing for when DIRECTV might launch the social media service. The request was made as a 1B filing, which means “intent to use.”
However, AT&T’s decision to ask the trademark office for a reconsideration of its suspension a full year after Brocade dropped its application would suggest the telco has recently renewed its interest in a YouTube-like channel under the My View name.
If AT&T decides to launch a challenger to YouTube, it could pose a serious threat to the Google-owned powerhouse. AT&T and DIRECTV combined reach scores of millions of people through the satellite service and wireless network.
— Phillip Swann
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