Sonic Solutions

Here is a round-up of some other interactive TV-related stories we didn't have room for in this issue:

[itvt] has just published an INTERVIEW with Corey Ferengul, EVP of product management and marketing at digital entertainment technology provider, Rovi. Ferengul discusses Rovi's recent announcement that it will acquire digital media delivery infrastructure company, Sonic Solutions, for approximately $720 million (see the article published on itvt.com, January 3rd).

Because the [itvt] editorial team has been on the road the past few weeks, we are covering recent news in round-up/summary form. Due to the volume of news we are covering in this issue, our summaries are somewhat more abbreviated than usual (note: extensive background information on most of the companies and technologies covered in this issue can be found by using itvt.com's search functionality). We apologize for any inconvenience to our readers: our regular daily news coverage will return shortly.

Because the [itvt] editorial team has been on the road the past few weeks, we are covering recent news in round-up/summary form. Due to the volume of news we are covering in this issue, our summaries are somewhat more abbreviated than usual (note: extensive background information on most of the companies and technologies covered in this issue can be found by using itvt.com's search functionality). We apologize for any inconvenience to our readers: our regular daily news coverage will return shortly.

Because the [itvt] editorial team has been on the road the past few weeks, we are covering recent news stories in summary/round-up form. We anticipate that it will take a few days for us 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. We apologize for any inconvenience to our readers.

OTT video infrastructure provider, Sonic Solutions, said Tuesday that Haier, a Chinese manufacturer of home appliances and consumer electronics, has chosen its RoxioNow platform to enable delivery of a library of Hollywood movies and TV shows over the Web to a new line of Haier-branded Blu-ray players and HDTV sets. "Digital movie services powered by the RoxioNow platform will play an important role in our next-generation connected devices and help make it easy for consumers to browse, purchase and enjoy the best in digital entertainment from the comfort of their living rooms," Doug Lane, president of Haier Digital Products Group for the Americas, said in a prepared statement.

Because the [itvt] editorial team has been on the road the past few weeks, we are covering recent news stories in summary/round-up form. We anticipate that it will take a couple of days for us 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. We apologize for any inconvenience to our readers.

The [itvt] editorial team is on the road this week, so we are covering most stories in round-up/summary form, and we anticipate that there will be some additional interruptions of our regular news publishing schedule beyond that. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience to our readers.

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.

Electronics retailer, Best Buy, on Tuesday announced the availability of its new download service, branded as CinemaNow, which it says will provide consumers with free, same-day instant access to new-release movies and TV shows: titles will be available for rent at around $4 each, and for purchase at around $15.

Sonic Solutions, the digital media company that in 2008 acquired the pioneering broadband VOD service/platform, CinemaNow (it subsequently added "Roxio" to the service's name in order to make its branding consistent with its other products), announced Monday that it has signed an electronic sell-through (EST) deal with Warner Bros. Digital Distribution that will see it digitally distributing commercial-free standard- and high-definition TV episodes the day after their network broadcast. The company, which says that the deal will "further expand the broad content library" available through Roxio CinemaNow-powered devices and services, has already begun offering a selection of episodes covered by the deal, priced from $1.99.

Since February 3rd, [itvt] Daily News has been on hiatus, while the [itvt] editorial team produced the TV of Tomorrow Show 2010--and then took a few days off to recover. This is the sixth of eight round-up articles, in which we are covering some of the more significant developments in the multiplatform/interactive TV space that took place during our hiatus:

Sonic Solutions, the digital media company that in 2008 acquired the pioneering broadband VOD service/platform, CinemaNow (it subsequently added "Roxio" to the service's name in order to make its branding consistent with its other products), announced Tuesday that it has signed an agreement with Canadian movie theater chain operator, Cineplex Entertainment. According to the company, the deal sees Cineplex licensing the Roxio CinemaNow platform to power a new movie streaming and download service at http://www.cineplex.com, that will make content available on a range of connected devices and that is scheduled to launch later this year. The service will be targeted at the Canadian market.

Due to the volume of news generated by last week's Consumer Electronics Show, and because the [itvt] editorial team is busy working on The TV of Tomorrow Show (March 3rd-4th in San Francisco), we are covering a number of stories in this issue in summary form:

Sonic Solutions, the digital media company that in 2008 acquired the pioneering broadband VOD service/platform, CinemaNow (it subsequently added "Roxio" to the service's name in order to make its branding consistent with its other products), announced Monday that it is launching version 2.0 of Roxio CinemaNow at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. According to the company, the new version, which it will be demo'ing by invitation in the Renaissance Hotel's Chairman Room, offers new HD and 3D capabilities and various interactive capabilities.