CBS boosts TV Everywhere with Syncbak stake
April 23, 2013
CBS Corporation has made a strategic minority investment in content distribution technology specialist Syncbak. It has not disclosed the level of investment.
Using location-based authentication technology, Syncbak enables local television stations to stream their signal to in-market consumers. In doing so, Syncbak offers broadcast networks a seamless solution to replicate existing national, local and affiliate partnerships on the Internet and mobile devices.
CBS expects to work closely with its owned and affiliated television stations as well as advertisers, rights holders, cable, satellite and telco partners in the coming months and years as Syncbak becomes fully activated and deployed. At the same time, Syncbak will continue to offer its platform to other broadcast networks and their station groups.
“We have admired and worked with Syncbak’s CEO Jack Perry since the mid-’90s,” said Martin D. Franks, Executive Vice President, Planning, Policy and Government Affairs, CBS Corporation. “As an executive, he’s as knowledgeable about emerging technologies as he is about broadcasting. Over the last couple years, we have worked with Jack as he developed Syncbak’s very elegant technology platform, which presents several interesting opportunities for broadcast networks, their stations and affiliates. We look forward to collaborating with him as we move the initiative forward.”
“Across the country broadcasters are looking for the best way to respond to consumer demand for streaming their content,” said Jack Perry, CEO of Syncbak. “Syncbak’s technology provides the right solution at the right time to make that happen. I am particularly pleased that CBS has recognised the role that Syncbak can play as the broadcast model continues to evolve.”
Syncbak’s technology is currently being tested by more than 100 television stations in 70 markets across 31 broadcast groups representing all major networks, including CBS, ABC, FOX, NBC and The CW. Additional strategic investors of Syncbak include the National Association of Broadcasters and the Consumer Electronics Association.