It often saddens me when yet another great Israeli technology firm get’s bought out by a foreign company. It’s not uncommon, and over the years Israeli technology and innovation has formed the basis of some pretty successful Western technology firms. It’s probably just the way of the world, buying smaller innovative firms is an easy way for the bigger companies to expand. Look at all the companies that Microsoft, Google and Facebook have bought over the years.
Well here’s another example, the Israeli start up company Tvinci, which works in the on demand subscription TV services, has now been bought out by the open-source video platform company Kaltura.
Tvinci uses the latest technology to deliver through it’s own software a variety of TV services over the internet. It works using on demand and standard linear programmes which are broadcast in the traditional way. The content can be accessed through a wide variety of devices such as Smartphone, computers and Smart TVs to name but a few, It’s also perfect for streaming to large companies through central gateways or proxies direct to large numbers of PCs using multicast.
The company Kaltura is well respected in the video world and the New York firm hopes to integrate the technology from Tvinci with it’s own video platform. There is good news for employment though, the company is to be based in Israel with the employees of both companies merging. Also the founders of Tvinci will be appointed to Kaltura’s management board.
Innovation in this sector is what usually controls a companies success or not. Merging two mutually related companies like this can make a lot of economic sense. The problem is making money out of the technology, especially when using the internet which is obviously rife with workarounds, piracy and copies of such media. For example even a company like the BBC is unable to restrict their UK based content completely – many millions watch using proxies and UK proxies from across the world. This post shows how to watch the BBC News Live or even Match of the Day from anywhere for example, the same method works anywhere for any media site which attempt to block access based purely on location.
There’s no doubt it’s a big industry despite this however, many estimates suggest that services of Pay Per View on the internet will reach many billions of dollars within a couple of years. Kaltura has raised a lot of cash to invest in the developments of this area, so buying small innovative companies like Tvinci makes a lot of sense.
Recent Comments