Magnify.net Brings its Broadband Video Channels to the Living-Room TV via New Boxee App

Broadband video company, Magnify.net, has launched an application for the Boxee over-the-top-TV platform which it says will allow Boxee users to browse and view its over 60,000 broadband video channels on their home television sets. The company bills the new app as part of an ongoing strategy to provide cross-platform access to its video content, pointing out that 90% of Boxee's 600,000-strong installed base have apparently connected their computer to a flat-screen television. The deal will give Boxee subscribers access to a line-up of content that includes video from New York Magazine, Bicycling.com and Tasteofhome.com, and a range of community and niche channels. "We're excited to see Magnify.net bring its network of publishers and channel builders to the Boxee platform," Boxee CEO, Avner Ronen, said in a prepared statement. "Content creators, video aggregators and entertainment curators building on Magnify.net now have a way to bring their work to the living room with Boxee."

Magnify.net, which offers a range of community-oriented and niche video channels, says that giving home viewers access to these channels on multiple platforms is "a large step towards connecting users with content they have traditionally been denied." It says that its most popular services include RCU Videos, which features content on radio-controlled model airplanes; CambodianMusic.tv, which features music videos from Cambodia; and the fan site, CarsonDaly.tv. "We see multi-source video channels as the future of video communities," Magnify.net CEO, Steve Rosenbaum, said in a prepared statement. "Channels that both offer video discovery and video sharing, with a quality curation component that means that niche sites can be both very narrow and high quality. Premium niche channels are a new phenomenon, but a fast-growing one."

In other Boxee news: At an industry event in New York City last week, CEO Avner Ronen provided some information on the company's plans to generate revenue, which seem to involve an App Store-type business model, according to a report by Contentinople's Ryan Lawler. The company apparently plans to create a billing system that content providers will be able to use to charge end-users for branded Boxee apps downloaded through the Boxee platform. It will then take a share of the revenues thus generated. Ronen also revealed that the company plans to launch the beta version of its flagship platform in mid-October.