Connection Between Dot.TV and Tuvalu Island

Host: But life in Tuvalu isn't that complex. A former British colony, it
now has the smallest GDP of any independent state, it has eight
kilometers of roads, one airport and no known mineral resources.
Folau Kapumanala: This is a very good, good life to stay here, a very good life. No, no
problem, eh? No trouble. When you go anywhere, no trouble, no.
If you want to go and you can -- if you want to eat some fish, you
can, you can find some fish every time.
Host: If you don't want to eat you could always smoke.
Cigarette maker: This is a pandanus leaf.
Director: And what do you do with it?
Cigarette maker: We use for 'smoke'
Director: Smoke?
Cigarette maker: Yes.
Director: Cigarettes?
Cigarette maker: Yes.
Director: Can you show me a cigarette made out of this?
Cigarette maker: But I am not smoking.
Host: Iakopo is keen they should know that the DotTV money could help
their business opportunities.
Iakopo Molotii: Part of this company, so the -- that's where we get the money from.
So like, you can ask the -- your council, island council for any
development you want to start here. Or, like build - buildings! You
know? And a machine and install a small disk so that you can
watch TV from here.
Ted Hong: The Internet is not time-sensitive, right? It's -- you know, as long
as you film it one time and you can store that broadcast on a server
somewhere and you have the capability to stream it through your
website you can come at noontime, you can come at 2 am in the
morning you can come at 4 in the afternoon, whatever is most
convenient for you.
Anyone who wants to do it should be able to afford to do it and I
think that is in one of the things that DotTV is evolving towards
and what we want to be able to provide is basically a turnkey
solution for anyone who wants to build this website of tomorrow -
you know the next generation of online experiences. And I think
the great thing that you are seeing by looking at all these different
sites is that this is really happening on a global basis. It's not just
happening in the United States. It is happening in the Netherlands,
in Germany, it's happening in the UK, it's happening in Korea, in
Japan, in Hong Kong.
Host: But if the internet revolution hasn't quite reached Tuvalu, DotTV is
sure that Tuvalu will participate.
Ted Hong: Yeah, the agreement that we have with Tuvalu is actually 50
million dollars over the course of the 10 years. The contract is in
perpetuity so after the ten years they stop receiving cash payments
but they still maintain their equity stake in the company, so they
actually have a double digit equity stake in our company and they
have a seat on our board. So I think overall it's a very, very
positive deal for them. And to know that the monetary gain that
this company can have is affecting peoples' lives and actually
doing a very good thing for the citizens and the country of Tuvalu -
- which you know, I think by any measure is, is a fairly poor
country -- but to be able to do good things for them is pretty
exciting for us and all the employees here.