Comcast buys start-up for online video expansion
, June 27, 2006
Reuters
Comcast Corp., the No. 1 U.S. cable operator, said on Wednesday it bought a small digital media delivery company as part of plans to expand its online video services beyond the personal computer.
Comcast would not disclose the sum it invested in theplatform, a Seattle-based start-up with 70 staff and clients including The Wall St Journal, ABC News and Starz Entertainment Group’s Vongo.
Comcast’s comcast.net Web site, targeted at its 9 million high-speed Internet customers, is already a client of theplatform, delivering over 2 million short-form videos a day.
The online video space has become a hot area in the last year, with the growth of high speed Internet access allowing easier delivery, sites including YouTube, Google Video and Yahoo! Music have all seen a strong growth in user figures.
“Our long term vision would be to be able to provide digital media video to whatever platform our customers are looking at,” said Sam Schwartz, executive vice president of Comcast Internet Media.
Schwartz said theplatform would for instance help better integrate its online video with television and vice-versa.
“Comcast is in the best position to provide the best cross- platform experience for customers,” he said.
Theplatform already has experience with wireless video delivery counting Verizon Wireless’s V Cast media service among its clients.
Comcast said that, while the platform will be a wholly owned subsidiary it will still work with its variety of clients, as well as work closer with Comcast on developing its services.
Venture capital backers of theplatform were Boston-based Spark Capital and Generation Partners of San Francisco who were joint majority shareholders. Spark invested $8 million in the company at the end of 2005.
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