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Never Watch Sports Alone

A Blockchain DApp for Distributed Digital Sports Content

Fabrizio Capobianco

[email protected]

December 1, 2017


TOK.tv: A Blockchain DApp For Distributed Digital Sports Content

Abstract

With over 25 million users worldwide, TOK.tv is the #1 social network in sports, enabling fans to

watch exciting sporting events while interacting with their friends. TOK.tv is the official streaming

provider and chosen social platform for multiple international teams and leagues including Real

Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Italian Serie A, Italian Lega B, Beijing GuoAn,

Shanghai Shenhua, Tianjin Teda, the Chinese Super League, and The Los Angeles Clippers.

TOK.tv’s success has been fueled by the paradigm shift of consumers moving from a world of

centrally controlled content distribution channels, like television and radio, to a world of

user-controlled content absorbed through online streaming.

TOK.tv is now taking advantage of the innate capabilities of blockchain to take its platform to the

next level, and transform digital sports viewing and engagement, by re-platforming on blockchain.

TOK.tv will revolutionize how sports content is sold, distributed, and consumed (or experienced),

while benefiting all parties: users, advertisers, and rights holders. Users gain access to great

sports content, and an expanding ecosystem of third-party add-on apps that make their

experience richer. Advertisers gain higher transparency, ROI and reduced click-fraud, paying only

for actual engagement. Rights holders (leagues and teams) make more money by not paying

middlemen.

TOK.tv is built on the Dispatch Labs protocol, providing the scalability required for mass adoption

by millions of consumers, while reducing time to market for TOK.tv.

TOK.tv is backed by an experienced leadership team of sports fanatics with multiple previous

successful exits, who have built the success of TOK.tv in its current iteration.

2



Contents

1. The Landscape 5

1.1 TOK.tv History and Current Capabilities 5

2. What is TOK.tv? 7

2.1 The TOK.tv Decentralized Application 7

2.2 The TOK.tv Token 7

2.2.1 Content Access Models 7

2.2.2 Token Earning and Usage 8

2.3 The Social Platform 8

3. Technical Overview 10

3.1 Utilization of the Dispatch Protocol 10

3.1.1 The Dispatch Artifact Network (DAN) 10

3.2 Content Management 12

3.3 Interaction 12

3.4 Ad Management 12

3.5 Third-party Developer API 13

4. Roadmap 14

4.1 Community-Centric Design 14

5. The Company 15

5.1 TOK.tv Leadership 15

6. Conclusion 18

3



Sports TV is Broken.

The global sports industry is a massive economic entity, with the size of the total US Sports

Industry estimated at $496.1 Billion in 2016, with a global size of $1.3 trillion USD. In the US alone,

companies spent $36.6 billion on sports advertising in 2016 . 1

While fans continue to flock to live sports events, the outlook for traditional TV outlets is not

looking up. Between the high cost for subscription, the lack of engagement opportunities, and

the shift to mobile, sports fans are cord-cutting. Per Nielsen, ESPN lost 13 million subscribers in

the last six years. This is also impacting ad revenues. Per MAGNA U.S. Sports Report (Sept. 2017),

for 2016-2017 season, TV ad revenue is estimated to cover just 66% of media rights for sports.

And unlike digital channels, TV advertisers lack ability to know who’s watching: leaving them with

reduced incentive to remain with traditional TV outlets. Additionally, future markets will continue

to trend towards new methods of content consumption as youth moves further away from

television and more into online streaming, “The viewing figures we see on social media are really,

really massive,” according to Ty Duffy of TheBiglead. “One third of 15 and 16-year-olds don’t

watch linear TV at all.” 2

Things aren’t much better for the rights holders (the clubs and leagues). Media costs are rising:

$18.3 billion in 2016, up 50 percent from 2011 . Despite increased costs, profit ends up with 3

middlemen, leaving rights holders with little gain.

1 “Sports Industry Statistics and Market Size Overview, Business and Industry Statistics”, Plunkett Research,

Ltd.

https://www.plunkettresearch.com/statistics/Industry-Statistics-Sports-Industry-Statistic-and-Market-Size-Ov

erview , December 1, 2017. 2 “The Sports Bubble has Already Burst”, Ty Duffy, TheBigLead. March 10, 2017.

http://thebiglead.com/2017/03/10/the-sports-bubble-has-already-burst/ 3 “PwC Sports Outlook 2016 North America,” PricewaterhouseCoopers.

https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/entertainment-media/publications/sports-outlook-north-america.html

4

https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/entertainment-media/publications/sports-outlook-north-america.html



1. The Landscape

1.1 TOK.tv History and Current Capabilities

Originally launched as a consumer direct offering in 2012, TOK.tv quickly added Juventus as its

first partner. Focusing initially on the largest soccer clubs in Europe, TOK.tv expanded to include:

● Real Madrid

● Barcelona

● Juventus

● Paris Saint-Germain

● Italy Serie A League

● Italy Serie B League

Expansion into Asia added:

● Beijing GuoAn

● Shanghai Shenhua

● Tianjin TEDA

● Chinese Super League

In 2017, TOK.tv added its first North American team (and not in soccer), the Los Angeles Clippers.

TOK.tv is in negotiations with a number of franchises in a variety of sports, with more NBA

engagement, as well as planned NFL penetration in the near future.

With TOK.tv integrated in their mobile applications, teams and leagues engage and retain their

fans, without giving away their data to social networks. In addition, teams and leagues increase

retention up to 80%, by allowing fans to talk to their friends while they are watching a match.

With its advertising platform, TOK.tv allows brands - mainly team and league sponsors - to

engage the fan directly, through a mix of static and video banners, branded sounds, social selfies,

and unique chatbots (triggering one-to-one conversations with the fan).

5



TOK.tv’s video player allow fans to watch matches on demand based on the time they have.

Instead of being forced to watch the highlights prepared by the broadcasters, fans gain the ability

to select which highlights to consume; to watch the top highlights, or every move of their favorite

player.

6



2. What is TOK.tv?

2.1 The TOK.tv Decentralized Application

TOK.tv is now moving to blockchain, leveraging its partnerships, relationships and industry

experience to build the first decentralized sports viewing and engagement application on

blockchain, establishing a new economy. The TOK.tv DApp will be a full functional decentralized

sports viewing, social media engagement, and streaming application, available on all mobile

platforms, which will enjoy the benefits and security of blockchain functionality.

TOK.tv solves the challenges for Sports TV with an application built on a decentralized

marketplace that bypasses the traditional middleman and directly connects fans with rights

holders and advertisers. Rights holders upload content and specify the Content Access Models

and Token Earnings and Usage for their content.

By combining blockchain and smart contracts with Peer-2-Peer (P2P) file sharing, the TOK.tv

application provides a flexible, low-cost, secure method of distributing and consuming content.

The TOK.tv application will also allow the developer community to participate fully in the

ecosystem. Developers will be able to add features to the platform (such as betting or expanded

social features) through the TOK.tv API.

The TOK.tv platform provides a flexible solution for not only wide audience content, but for niche,

long tail content, where the audience may be limited or located in a small region. Additionally,

content-quality based monetization can be easily implemented by properly slicing quality tiers

(e.g. HDr, HD, UHD).

2.2 The TOK.tv Token

The TOK.tv application leverages the TOK token, a cryptocurrency used by users to pay for

content and advertisers to purchase television slots. TOK.tv tokens will have an established

fiat-currency value via public exchanges, allowing end-users to purchase digital services and

goods, such as team branded merchandise, paying for content access, or engage with other fans

(such as betting against friends on the outcome of a game using TOK tokens).

2.2.1 Content Access Models

Video streams are transacted via one of three Content Access Models:

1. PPV: Paid by users with a subscription or pay-per-view (PPV) model

7



2. Advertiser Enabled: Paid for by advertisers, provided that advertising data is not subject

to potential fraud and well targeted

3. Hybrid: Users accept a certain amount of advertising in return for a discounted price on

the content

2.2.2 Token Earning and Usage

Users can spend or obtain tokens, by taking an active part/role in the TOK.tv user community. For

example, users can earn tokens by:

● Actively selecting and proposing additional content to be placed on the platform, thus

promoting adoption and be rewarded based on actual paid usage

● Performing certain tasks during content watching such as voting, sharing with friends who

then become users, social engagements and shares, etc.

● Providing a specific feedback on the piece of content consumed

● Monitoring the overall quality of the streams and providing feedback

● Engaging in surveys and other desired engagement content from advertisers or research

groups

● Farming - by hosting content in the system

Users can spend tokens also by voting on live television content, a fraud exposed process which

becomes streamlined by the use of a distributed system. By adopting a television voting system

based on our token technology, voting authentication and certification is assured by design.

Double voting (if not allowed by the voting rules) can also be avoided by design, thus enhancing

and guaranteeing the value and authenticity of the outcome. Voting paid by the end user can

also be used as an additional revenue source by content producers.

Users can spend tokens to interact with live television content. For example, during a live musical

performance by a popular band, users can use their tokens to request their favourite songs. After

an important football match, users can use their tokens to have interviewers ask their favourite

players pressing questions. These interactions with content will also support advertising as it will

provide live information on user participation and preferences. These interactions will benefit

from the use of token based technology, and creates a new monetization opportunity for not only

businesses, but charity programs as well.

2.3 The Social Platform

TOK.tv features an integrated social button and social platform, which is a major benefit of the

service over traditional consumption models (television, radio) which do not allow user

interaction. Social features not only provide value to content consumers, but value to the rights

owners and providers as they increase retention and engagement of fans.

8



The new TOK.tv will include all of the social features from legacy TOK.tv, with additional

functionality added as a result of blockchain. The integration of the TOK Token will allow users to

not only engage socially, but to transfer value and earn benefits for those social engagements.

For example advertisers can pay users with tokens for shares on social media, while users can

earn tokens for supporting their favorite teams or share advertiser messaging.

9



3. Technical Overview TOK.tv is a Decentralized application built upon the Dispatch Labs blockchain protocol. TOK.tv is

an evolution of Legacy TOK.tv, which is the current application in usage by 25 million users

globally. Legacy TOK.tv will be migrated to the new, blockchain-enabled TOK.tv as the network

grows.

3.1 Utilization of the Dispatch Protocol

TOK.tv is built upon the existing Dispatch Labs blockchain. The Dispatch blockchain is a shared

ledger that all nodes in the system have a copy of. The Dispatch network is a composition of new

and established protocols being used in some of the most widely adopted distributed systems

today. Consensus is established via the Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPOS) algorithm used by

Bitshares , Steemit , and EOS . The Dispatch Virtual Machine (DVM) is based on the Ethereum 4 5 6

Virtual Machine . Artifacts and nodes are tracked using a Kademlia distributed hash table (DHT) 7

similar to Storj and IPFS . All these pieces work together with off-chain operability protocols 8 9

developed by Dispatch Labs to create a system with more expansive DApp functionality than any

before it, making it the optimal network for DApps like the new TOK.tv. Below is a high level

diagram of the Dispatch infrastructure.

3.1.1 The Dispatch Artifact Network (DAN)

TOK.tv will utilize the Dispatch Artifact Network’s secure off-chain storage capabilities to allow

streaming, sharing, and dissemination of advertising content. The DAN allows the Dispatch

blockchain to grow linearly while the data-pool grows exponentially, in the case of a DApp like

TOK.tv this functionality is key, as users will be able to enjoy streaming content and data access

without needing large amounts of space to store chain operations.

The Dispatch infrastructure is based heavily on the storage, transmission, and manipulation of

off-chain artifacts (any piece of programmable data, aka a streaming file, user selfie, or interactive

advertisement). The blockchain distributes information about the artifacts without sharing the

artifacts themselves. The Dispatch Artifact Network (DAN) encompases the interactions between

nodes involving off-chain artifact storage and transmission. Downloaders find the nearest farmer

4 https://bitshares.org/technology/delegatedproofofstakeconsensus/ 5 https://steemit.com/dpos/@dantheman/dposconsensusalgorithmthismissingwhitepaper 6 https://github.com/EOSIO/Documentation/blob/master/TechnicalWhitePaper.md 7 https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/WhitePaper 8 https://storj.io/storj.pdf 9 https://github.com/ipfs/ipfs

10



of an (1) artifact in their own personal (2) Kademlia DHT , and uploaders implement 10

Proof-of-Replication (PoRep) security to stop farmer Sybil attacks . 11

Artifacts within the DAN are automatically sharded and encoded with the best available

encryption. As such, rights holders content is protected not only by top quality encryption, but

additionally by the nature of sharded artifacts. Because files are stored in segmented pieces

across multiple off-chain storage locations, even if one piece of data is successfully decoded the

overall piece of content will still be secure and protected, guaranteeing that monetizable content

can only be accessed by users who have properly paid for or correctly gained access to that

content.

The following is a graphical representation of the Dispatch Artifact Flow:

10 Maymounkov, Petar, and David Mazières. “Kademlia: A PeertoPeer Information System Based on the XOR Metric.” Parallel & Distributed Operating Systems Group, MIT, 7 Mar. 2002.

11 Protocol Labs. “Filecoin: A Decentralized Storage Network.” 14 Aug. 2017.

11



3.2 Content Management

TOK.tv is at its core a content management system. Where initially only sports team and leagues

partners of TOK.tv will have access to publish new content, eventually the platform will be open

to any rights holder who wants to share their content. Through the Dispatch smart contracts,

content can be published, shared, and monetized for mass consumption by viewers around the

world. Content is hosted in the Dispatch Artifact Network, and revenue is programmatically split

and distributed to the rights holder’s wallets. TOK.tv’s digital rights management capabilities will

allow for rights holders with full control over their content, including a) how revenue will be

distributed (ex. split between multiple rights holders), b) what payment for is accepted for the

content (ex. pay-per-view or subscription), c) how many tokens are required to access the

content, d) when content will be available for viewing, and when it will expire.

User content can be managed from within the TOK application. New content can be published

from any Dispatch node (or mobile light client). All content purchases and royalty payments

happen with TOK tokens.

3.3 Interaction

End users interact with the TOK platform through the TOK.tv mobile application. There users can

browse content, make purchases, and share their favorite content. Users can interact with each

other through the social platform defined below. To service users who don’t want to pay for the

content, interactions with advertisers will be an optional way for users to earn TOK tokens. Those

tokens can then be exchanged for the content itself.

TOK will provide a core set of social features that will be universally available throughout the

platform. These features include social sharing, gamification and messaging between fans, clubs

and advertisers -- both at a micro-level within a specific content item (such as a game) or at a

macro-level (across the platform).

3.4 Ad Management

For rights owners and consumers, advertising plays an important role in the TOK platform.

Advertising provides a powerful revenue source for the rights holders. Through the transparent

qualities of the Dispatch blockchain, advertisers can get additional insight to their audience's

preferences and viewing habits, allowing for more powerful targeting and higher conversions.

For customers who have become accustomed to receiving all their content for free, the TOK Ad

Management platform provides an alternative to traditional pay-per-view models. The user can

watch ads that are relevant to them and view the content for free. Ads live on the DAN as free

12



content, but the content behind it requires either (1) paying for the content or (2) the prerequisite

advertisements have been witnessed.

3.5 Third-party Developer API

TOK.tv features a third-party developer API allowing developers to create new applications which

can interact with the TOK.tv application to unlock a host of new features. Possible use-cases for

third-party applications include:

● Additional social interactions/integration with new social features and networks

● Gambling apps or applications that otherwise gamify token usage as tied to the sports

content itself

● Rewards platforms for engagement or user predictions

● Fantasy-game softwares (fantasy soccer, fantasy football, etc).

The Developer API will provide an easy to use set of integration tools and user-friendly

interactions to add new functionality and benefits for users, advertisers and rights holders. Third

party applications may be decentralized applications utilizing blockchain and the Dispatch

network or can be totally independent centralized apps.

13



4. Roadmap

H1 2018 Infrastructure for the core TOK.tv functionality

Launch beta version of platform, tied in to current application experience: Wallet

and Content Purchase

Public Token Generation Event

H2 2018 Content Management Module, including Digital Rights Management

Interaction Module: App, Video Player, Messaging

H1 2019 Ad Management

Interaction Module: Social, Gamification

H2 2019 Third-party Ecosystem and App-store

Interaction Module: Live Streaming

4.1 Community-Centric Design

Development roadmap will be adjusted on user feedback and market analysis. Planned updates

will be added to the whitepaper and announced ahead of time, allowing for user and investor

feedback to be incorporated into the development process.

14



5. The Company

TOK.tv is a Delaware C-Corp headquartered in Silicon Valley, California with a wholly owned

subsidiary in China (谈观（上海）信息技术有限公司 / Tok.tv (Shanghai) Information Technology

Co. Ltd.) and in Italy (TOK.tv Srl).

TOK.tv has previously raised $6.7M in Venture Capital from Angel Capital Management, Heyi

Capital, Opea, Techstars Ventures, TEEC, Social Starts, XG Ventures, Jet Ventures and individual

investors.

In addition to its San Francisco headquarters, TOK.tv has offices in Shanghai China, London UK,

Mumbai India, and Milan Italy.

5.1 TOK.tv Leadership

Fabrizio Capobianco

Chief Executive Officer

A serial entrepreneur, Fabrizio founded in

1994 the first Web Company in Italy,

Internet Graffiti. He moved to Silicon

Valley in 1999, joining Tibco and then

Reuters. In 2002, he started Funambol

and made it the #1 open source project in

wireless. He raised over $30M from US

Venture Capitalists to create the leading

personal cloud solution for mobile

operators. He still serves as Chairman

and President of Funambol.

Fabrizio has a Ph.D. in Computer Science

and is a Knight of the Italian Republic.

Jeff Slack

Executive Vice President

Jeff Slack joined TOK.tv from IMG, where

he was Senior Vice President, Global

Football. He has more than two decades of

experience in athlete management, sports

investments and content creation and

distribution. While at IMG, Jeff ran the

global football business practice.

Previously, he established and managed

the European operations for the

Wasserman Media Group. He joined

Wasserman after four years serving as CEO

of FC Internazionale, also known as Inter

Milan.

15



Paul Lin Chen

General Manager, China

Paul is a recognized expert in mobile

advertising and gaming. Born in Taiwan

and raised in the USA, Paul started his

career at T-Mobile. In 1998 he became VP

BD of Performance Designed Products,

then in 2007 he moved to Hasbro, still in

the video games business. In 2011 he

moved to Shanghai, to become GM China

for Rovio, maker of Angry Birds. In 2014,

he became CEO of Beintoo APAC.

Matt McGraw

Blockchain Strategy

Matt is an entrepreneur & CEO with

expertise in quickly scaling successful

businesses. After leading and shepherding

a versatile range of tech companies, Matt’s

current focus is on technologies at scale,

that disrupt hierarchies and disseminate

control of secure information to data users.

Simone Giacomelli

Blockchain Partnerships

Zane Witherspoon

Blockchain Architecture

Simone has, for over 3 years, been

leading teams that provide next

Zane is an experienced blockchain

architect, and distributed systems

16



generation blockchain solutions for both

the private and public sectors. Passionate

and diligent about exploring relational

economies and Decentralized

Autonomous Organizations, he conducts

research in novel cryptocurrency models,

ICOs and incentive mechanisms that

empower cooperation and value creation.

specialist. He is firmly entrenched as an

expert in the blockchain world, sitting on

the board of advisors for four

California-based blockchain companies,

and an author in the space. His ceaseless

pursuit to build something at the bleeding

edge of what is currently possible makes

Zane an invaluable addition to the TOK.tv

team.

Jake Vartanian

Blockchain Tokenomics

Marco Santori

Legal

Jake Vartanian is the founder of

Cryptodex, a contributor to Blockchain

News, and an advocate of

decentralization since early 2011. He has

worked with high profile startups

including Bancor, TokenCard and

SingularDTV.

Marco Santori leads Cooley’s fintech

practice, and is an authority in the law of

blockchain technology. He is an author of

the SAFT Project whitepaper, the Legal

Ambassador for the Delaware Blockchain

Initiative, and an advisor to the International

Monetary Fund. Called “The Dean of Digital

Currency Lawyers” by an American Banker

journalist, Marco focuses his practice on

structuring innovative products into existing

regulations, as well as crafting new

regulations where required.

17



6. Conclusion

TOK.tv is a successful, functional product with tens of millions of users, which is actively

generating revenue. By utilizing the benefits of blockchain, TOK.tv can move from a successful

product to the foundational technology which will fundamentally change the way sports content

is distributed and consumed.

The TOK.tv decentralized application will use blockchain to benefit all parts of the content

consumption and dissemination ecosystem. Users will have more engaging access to the content

they want to watch, with included social interaction elements. Advertisers will have better value

for their money, while simultaneously increasing engagement and reducing fraud. RIghts holders

will more effectively monetize their content while cutting out middlemen.

Because TOK.tv will be built upon existing systems, the time to deployment will be minimal, and

will enjoy the benefits of Dispatch Labs architecture and off-chain storage solutions. The new

TOK.tv is different from many blockchain DApps. Instead of a new application, it is the transition

of an existing successful application to a new superior architecture with added functionality and a

more robust, decentralized economic model.

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