Samsung buys Boxee
July 4, 2013
By Colin Mann
Samsung has acquired US web TV service Boxee in a deal reported to be worth $30 million. The move will enhance Samsung’s Smart TV offering.
Announcing the deal in a company blog, ‘Team Boxee’ said: “We started on this journey six years ago, and have been at the forefront of the changing TV and video landscape. We believe that over the next few years the video market will change even more than it has in the past few decades. Joining Samsung means we will be able to work on products that marry the best hardware and software in the TV space, products that will be used by tens of millions of people and will help to shape the future of TV.”
For Boxee users, the company said it was working behind the scenes to ensure there was minimal impact to their devices. “However, the beta Cloud DVR functionality we provided to certain Boxee TV users will be discontinued on July 10th. You will not have access to your existing recordings after that date. We realise many of you loved the service, and we’re sorry it won’t be available moving forward. We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve built, and we want to thank you for being a part of our journey,” it concluded.
“Samsung has acquired key talent and assets from Boxee,” commented Samsung. “This will help us continue to improve the overall user experience across our connected devices.”
Samsung will benefit from being able to offer cloud-based storage on its TVs, as well as offering set-top boxes that can stream media from Android phones and provide cloud digital video recording functionality.