DivX

Rovi generated a fair amount of news over the past couple of weeks at CES and beyond. Here is a round-up of recent major announcements from the company:

• Sling Media says it will soon let users that buy its place-shifting set-top to watch videos while logged into Facebook. In a demo video of its SlingPlayer for Facebook app posted by the company on YouTube, Sling shows how viewers can watch video in partial or full-screen mode, and tell Facebook friends about what they are watching. But Sling users can’t yet share any images or video clips from the shows they are watching with Facebook friends. Engadget has more. 

Due to the large volume of news generated by the IFA, IBC and CEDIA trade shows--and because the [itvt] editorial team has been working on TVOT NYC Intensive 2011--we are covering stories in this issue in round-up/summary format. We anticipate that it will take us several more days to catch up with all the recent news: so if your company has sent us a press release or briefed us on an announcement, and you don't yet see your news covered in this issue, please bear with us.

Because the [itvt] editorial team has been working on TVOT NYC Intensive 2011, we are covering stories in this issue in round-up/summary format. We anticipate that it will take us several days to catch up with all the recent news: so if your company has sent us a press release or briefed us on an announcement, and you don't yet see your news covered in this issue, please bear with us.

OTT video infrastructure provider, Sonic Solutions, and codec specialist, DivX, said Wednesday that they have signed a definitive merger agreement, under which Sonic will acquire DivX for around $323 million in cash and stock. The companies--which in recent months have announced two partnership agreements (see the articles published on itvt.com, December 17th and March 22nd)--are billing their merger as creating a "digital video delivery powerhouse" that will streamline OTT distribution of Hollywood movies. Under the terms of the agreement, which has been approved by both companies' boards, Sonic will acquire all outstanding shares of DivX and merge the latter company's operations into its own.

A number of pieces of connected TV news came across [itvt]'s desk, Tuesday. Here is a brief--and by no means exhaustive--round-up (note: also see "Vudu Unveils Vudu Apps OTT Service," "ActiveVideo Networks in Deal to Provide Blockbuster with Cloud-Based User Interface," and "Showtime Networks, Betfair Launch Interactive TV Widgets"):