Retailers Sears and Kmart have enlisted Sonic Solutions' RoxioNow platform to bring out a new movie download service. Called Alphaline Entertainment, the service releases new movies the same day they arrive on Blu-ray and DVD in stores. The service is gradually being rolled out on various connected devices.
Rovi Corp today confirmed that it was buying Sonic for $720 million in a blend of both cash and stock. The acquisition was characterized as a push beyond TV set-top box guides into digital and centered around both Sonic's RoxioNow video store platform as well as its buyout of DivX from June. The move would help attract Hollywood studios and speed up the adoption of paid online content.
Sonic Solutions and Internet movie and TV show provider Boxee on Tuesday said they have partnered to bring new ways of accessing premium paid content on as-yet-unreleased Internet-connected devices. This will license Sonic's RoxioNow platform to Boxee-based devices in entertainment and web-to-TV apps. This may include Internet-connected set-top boxes, TVs and mobile devices that run on Boxee.
Sonic today acquired video codec maker DivX for $3.75 per share, or the equivalent of $323 million. The deal gives the owner of Roxio one of the more popular video formats and are intended to give Sonic a better means of providing video over the Internet, especially for home electronics. Many Blu-ray and DVD players, TVs, and set-top boxes already support DivX videos, and DivX is already using copy protection approved by movie studios, Sonic said.
