REPORT: Samsung Pays $30 Million For NYC-Based Web-TV Startup Boxee
Samsung has reportedly paid $30 million for Boxee, a digital video startup that's been trying to figure out how to create an cable-killing service for a few years now. — The report is coming from Israeli's business news site, The Marker.
Context & Ripple Effects
Samsung had already bought mobile entertainment and music-streaming startup mSpot in 2012, establishing a pattern of acquiring software capabilities alongside its hardware business. Boxee entered this report with an audience drawn to its alternative approach to television software and an effort to build a cable-replacement service.
The reported $30 million deal would place Boxee’s video product and team inside Samsung rather than leaving the startup to pursue that service independently. The story’s broad pickup across technology outlets also makes the transaction a notable signal of Samsung’s interest in TV software.
First-order effects
- If the reported acquisition closes, Samsung gains Boxee’s web-TV software and staff, while Boxee’s standalone effort to build a cable-killing service becomes part of Samsung’s product strategy.
- Samsung can apply Boxee’s video expertise to the software experience around its television hardware rather than relying only on third-party services.
Second-order effects
- TV and video-service partners face a larger Samsung with an in-house software option, increasing pressure to differentiate on content access and user experience.
- The deal reinforces the value of small video-software teams to device makers seeking to pair hardware distribution with proprietary services and interfaces.
Third-order effects
- If Samsung continues pairing device sales with acquisitions such as mSpot and Boxee, television competition shifts further from screens and specifications toward the software and service layer around them.
- The pattern favors hardware companies that can assemble complementary content, interface, and distribution assets rather than treating television software as a commodity.
The trend: Consumer-electronics makers are using targeted software acquisitions to turn connected devices into service platforms with differentiated video experiences.