I'm not involved as much as I used to be (there was a while I worked with Hemisphere quite closely) but I am very familiar with the LNU tech and the industry, it's fair to say.
The tech as I have said is very sound. I also think that the supporting mechanisms around the tech are good (i.e. the LVS admin console). Whizzard seems alright from the demos I have seen (I have never used it myself) but I'm not sure quite what the use case is for it? Maybe a turnkey LNU implementation for people that don't want to integrate into existing properties...
In terms of what's going wrong, it's all just speculation from my part, but from when I was more involved, I was always dubious about the effort put into personalized sports channels.
I think the idea of it is okay, but I don't think people want to pay for it.
I'm sure there's people reading this that are sports fans, so, pick your favourite sport and ask yourself if you would pay for the privilege of defining a bunch of actions from a particular team (or teams) in that sport and then being able to watch them in a (to be honest) fairly disjointed fashion...?
There's a value of sorts to it, but would you really, genuinely pay for it? Or, would you just watch a highlights reel on YouTube for free, that's not disjointed and probably has some commentary?
I think the organizations LNU has pitched to have realized that it's not a winner, and have chosen not to go forward with it.
I think the strengths lie elsewhere.
Education is actually a good fit, but the problem is, there's no money in education. I'm sure people will shout me down about this, but it's true -- unless it unequivocally equates to getting more students than a competing institution, education doesn't spend money on nice-to-have stuff. LNU could make a university's media collection really useful, but remember that universities got burnt by the MOOC craze of the early 2010s and are wary of that stuff.
Where LNU tech really shines is editorial, I believe. That's why Racing.com works really well. Not only do punters get to watch it, but Racing.com uses it for generating its content in other places.
My understanding of the IMG deal is that it would used be similarly (in an editorial fashion). Smart thinking and a good deal for both IMG and LNU. But of course, we're all wondering what's happening with that deal? It was announced ages ago, but no revenue? It seems concerning given what's happened with other announced deals that have just disappeared (Essendon, whatever that Indonesian football lot were, Newcastle Uni etc).
Where I think they've really missed a trick is government/military/law enforcement. THAT is the right place for LNU I believe.
So, to answer your question, what's going wrong? Seems to me that it's mainly been a misguided sales effort -- the wrong application of the technology and the wrong customers. And, probably, the wrong people left too long at the helm.
James Brennan seems like a good thing for LNU but I wonder if he came in too late.
That's my $0.02 (no pun intended) anyway. Note that I do not own (and have never owned) LNU shares. I have no axe to grind other than an interest in the tech and an ongoing bewilderment that it hasn't taken off.
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