Streaming service Quibi, which was created to be geared for “quick bites” of video on mobile devices, has officially announced a shutdown date.
According to an updated support document shared by Quibi (via Variety), the company sets the end date of its short-lived streaming service as “on or about December 1, 2020”.
“Quibi has made the difficult decision to wind down. We anticipate that the service will end streaming on or about December 1, 2020,” reads the support article. ”
“We appreciate the support we have received from our customers and want to thank you for giving us an opportunity to entertain you. If you have any questions or need assistance in any way, please contact us at help@quibi.com,” explains Quibi.
“At this time we do not know if the Quibi content will be available anywhere after our last day of service. We recommend following #Quibi on Twitter for any news regarding content,” concluded the company.
Quibi announced yesterday it was shutting down after operating for just six months. The U.S.-based streaming service launched back in April during the height of COVID-19 lockdowns and only had content available on smartphones at launch. It launched Apple TV, Android TV and Fire TV apps yesterday, but it was far too late.
“Quibi was a big idea and there was no one who wanted to make a success of it more than we did. Our failure was not for lack of trying; we’ve considered and exhausted every option available to us,” wrote executives Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman yesterday on Medium.
“Our goal when we launched Quibi was to create a new category of short-form entertainment for mobile devices. Although the circumstances were not right for Quibi to succeed as a standalone company, our team achieved much of what we set out to accomplish, and we are tremendously proud of the award-winning and innovative work that we have produced, both in terms of original content and the underlying technology platform. Over the coming months we will be working hard to find buyers for these valuable assets who can leverage them to their full potential,” added the Quibi leadership duo.
Starting a streaming service from scratch is not easy, especially when you’re competing against the likes of giants Netflix and Disney+. Just ask the failed Rogers and Shaw streaming service shomi, which lasted about two years in Canada before it shuttered in November 2016.
