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Sonic Solutions, the digital media company has acquired CinemaNow, an online movie service for a mere $3 million, according to Paid Content. The move shows that a lot of consolidation is going on the video and media industry and is going on at a rapid pace. Movielink, a rival sservice was acquired by Blockbuster for a fire-sale price of $7 million last year. Paid Content has some more historical details about CinemaNow:
Cinemanow, founded in 1999, was backed by Lionsgate, but never really took off, and had been languishing from slow growth, as other online TV-focused (and more open) rivals like YouTube, Hulu and others took off. It was one of the first ones to offer DVD burning with some movies, and also offered limited “day and date” download and DVD burning; it was also one of the first ones to be embedded with devices such as Dell, HP, Samsung, TiVo, DivX, and Archos, but adoption was minimal.
The company CEO Curt Marvis left earlier this year to join Lionsgate as its new president of digital media. In 2006, it received $20.3 million in late stage (fifth round) funding, from Echostar and Japanese mobile content giant Index Holdings (JSD: 4835). Previous investors included Transcosmos, Cisco Systems, Lionsgate and Menlo Venture. Total money invested was more than $40 million.
