![]() Verizon made its first digital media acquisition of 2014 in mid-November 2013, as its Verizon Digital Media Services announced it had acquired the assets and operations of UpLynk. Vitec Group should not to be confused with Vitec, the Paris-based company we’ve covered in earlier versions of Streamticker when Vitec acquired Optibase’s and Focus Enhancements’ video technology assets in 2010. The latter, a services arm, focused on remote cameras and tracking systems, camera-support systems, and full-service facilities to broadcasters for regional and international events. The move to acquire Teradek not only solidifies Vitec Group’s bona fides in the ever-merging broadcast and streaming integration worlds, but also gives the company its second acquisition in as many years, after it acquired Camera Corps Ltd. ![]() Not too long after NAB, Vitec Group snapped up Teradek, placing the wireless HD and streaming device manufacturer into the Vitec Videocom division alongside more traditional broadcast solutions. No word yet as to whether Boxee or Samsung will issue refunds for the Boxee TV product. We realize many of you loved the service, and we’re sorry it won’t be available moving forward.” “You will not have access to your existing recordings after that date. “he beta Cloud DVR functionality we provided to certain Boxee TV users will be discontinued on July 10th,” Boxee noted on its website. With Samsung’s acquisition intent announced on July 3, 2013, Boxee wasted no time shuttering its cloud-based Boxee TV DVR service less than a week later. What we find most odd is that the Cloud DVR, a primary selling point for all Boxee TV units sold during the 2012 holiday shopping season, is being discontinued. ![]() ![]() “This will help us continue to improve the overall user experience across our connected devices.” “Samsung has acquired key talent and assets from Boxee,” a Samsung spokesperson told The New York Times. With the Google TV stumbling, it made sense for Boxee to start looking for a suitor. And by the time Boxee turned to the Boxee TV it marketed through Walmart, rival Roku had established the only seemingly viable alternative to Apple TV. Yet Boxee found that even alpha geeks didn’t want to go through the hassle of setting up software that couldn’t stream basic services such as Hulu. Boxee found eager adopters in hipsters and hobbyists (‘alpha geeks,’ as co-founder and CEO Avner Ronen called them),” wrote Dreier in “The Long Sad Tale of Boxee: A Look Back.” “Long before Boxee hardware, when most users ran Boxee on Apple TVs or Mac minis. The sale price was rumored at about $30 million.Īs Streaming ’s Troy Dreier pointed out, Boxee couldn’t find traction between its original software play and its later hardware play. We covered one of Boxee’s permutations, to that of a seemingly clever but ill-implemented online digital video recorder (DVR) during the Christmas 2012 season, in an article titled “Boxee and Walmart Put Disappointment Under the Tree.” What a difference 6 months makes, as Boxee found itself the target of Samsung’s desire to find relevance in the STB and smart TV space. Let’s start with Samsung, and its unboxing of the acquisition of STB-cum-software streaming company Boxee. Then again, we still have Yahoo with us, and it seems to have stabilized in 2013 under the leadership of former Googler Marissa Mayer. If there is any trend indicative of yet another internet bubble, it’s the return of the Oddly Named Company, which last reared its head in 2007, the encore to 1999’s Year of the Ridiculous Name. Finally, KIT Digital died, only to be reborn with the oddly spelled name Piksel. In addition, Samsung made a set-top box (STB) buy that’s worth mentioning. Three companies stand out for making multiple acquisitions this year: Verizon Vitec Group, PLC and Yahoo. Some of the acquisitions focused on delivery platforms, including web acceleration and aggregation of viewer eyeballs, while other acquisitions sought to fill gaps in the growing universe of devices on which consumers choose to view premium media content. Major companies announced the purchase of key streaming media services, geared toward various parts of the media consumption supply chain, while smaller companies subsumed potential media tools to drive their place in the market. Significant acquisitions in 2013 set the stage for an interesting 2014.
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