Samsung slurps set-top streamer
Boxee deal rumoured at $US30M
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Samsung has moved to extend its in-TV recording and streaming capabilities with the acquisition of Israel-based set-top-box-based broadcast aggregation outfit Boxee.
While neither party has disclosed terms of the sale, VentureBeat believes the price tag was $US30 million.
Boxee had fought battles with Comcast and Hulu over its services, eventually reaching an agreement with Comcast in 2012, but pulling Hulu from its system in 2009. Later, Boxee moved into the mobile world, creating video-streaming apps for both iOS and Android.
While its original software ended up as the foundation of D-Link's Boxee Box, VentureBeat notes that its move away from open source alienated some of its fans, and its attempt at a cloud-based DVR service was poorly received.
Samsung expects the Boxee acquisition to help extend its Internet-enabled TV offerings. It will also put the Korean vendor up against the streaming capabilities of Microsoft's X-Box and Sony's Playstation. Bloomberg also reports that Apple will soon add Time-Warner channels to its streaming rights.
The acquisition “will help us continue to improve the overall user experience across our connected devices,” the company told Bloomberg. ®
