directly connect their TVs to a wide variety of content and services on the Internet. Combining Internet TV streaming technology gives DivX another path for its basic strategy of connecting any device with any manufacturer. As Hell puts it, “We’re really focused on solving the problems of getting high-class video content onto digital devices that are not tied to a specific brand.”
The $15 million price tag of the AnySource acquisition was likely easier for DivX to finance, given that two weeks earlier DivX settled its lawsuit against Yahoo, with the Internet portal reportedly paying DivX $9.5 million. DivX had alleged the Sunnyvale, CA, Internet services giant had breached a two-year toolbar licensing and distribution agreement.
Hell adds that many of the announcements DivX has been making represent deals that have been in the works for years. The company has been working since 2003, for example, on licensing films and other Hollywood content because it has taken time to reassure the major studios that DivX is serious about digital rights management.
As a result, Hell and Dan Halvorson, DivX’s chief financial officer, tell me the flurry of recent announcements really reflects the acceleration of changes taking place throughout the TV and online video ecosystem. Like other information technologies that have been touched by the Internet, DivX sees less filtering and a seemingly limitless amount of online video content that can be accessed on any device, at any time, and any place. “That’s the promise of Internet television,” Hell says, “that it will have a profound impact, not just on watching TV, but on our culture.”
