CinemaNow
| Company type | Privately held |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video on demand |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Founder | Curt Marvis andBruce Eisen |
| Defunct | August 1, 2017 |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California ,USA |
Area served | US, Canada and United Kingdom |
| Services | Video content delivery |
Number of employees | 120 |
| Parent | Sonic Solutions(2008–2010) Best Buy(2010–2014) Regent Equity Partners(2014–2016) FilmOn(2016–2017) |
| Website | cinemanow |
CinemaNowwas an internationalover-the-top (OTT)provider ofon-demand,Internetstreaming mediaavailable to viewers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1999 and was headquartered in Los Angeles, California.[1]CinemaNow changed hands several times over the years and was eventually shut down on August 1, 2017.[2]
History
[edit]CinemaNow was founded in 1999 as one of the firston-demandInternetstreaming mediaplatforms. The Company was backed by EchoStar, Cisco Systems, Index Holdings, Menlo Ventures, Lionsgate, and Microsoft.[3][4]
In November 2008,Sonic Solutionsacquired CinemaNow.[5]In January 2009, Sonic andBlockbuster, Inc.announced a strategic alliance to provide digital content delivery under the Blockbuster brand, essentially merging the digital storefronts of CinemaNow and its erstwhile competitor.
In 2010, Sonic Solutions andBest Buyannounced a strategic alliance which resulted in Best Buy's acquiring the CinemaNow brand.[6][7]Sonic Solutions rebranded the CinemaNow movie technology asRoxioNow,which became a white label movie store business.[8]Sonic Solutions was acquired byRovi Corporationfor $775 million in December 2010[9]and continued to operate the white label movie store business, which was renamed the Rovi Entertainment Store.[10][11]
In July 2013, Rovi announced that the Rovi Entertainment Store had been acquired by Reliance Majestic Holdings LLC, a new media company backed by Proveho Capital, a private equity firm based inAustin, Texas.[12][13]In July 2014, Best Buy sold the CinemaNow business to theprivate equity firmRegent Equity Partners.
The company changed hands again in January 2016, when Regent Equity Partners sold CinemaNow to the UK-based companyFilmOn.[14]Reports surfaced in August 2017 that the site had become inaccessible, and it was later confirmed that CinemaNow had been removed fromUltraviolet's list of providers.[2][15]
Products and services
[edit]The CinemaNow platform was available on the web, on mobile devices running Android and iOS, on PlayStation and Xbox game consoles, and on CE devices including LG, Panasonic, Samsung, and Toshiba.[16][17]Videos from CinemaNow are available forelectronic sell-throughviaDownload To Own,in the home video release window, DVD burning, as well as rental time-limited viewing in the pay-per-view window.[18]As of 2016, the company had 55,000 movies and TV episodes in its library.[14]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^"Retail: CinemaNow, Inc".BusinessWeek.June 16, 2009. Archived fromthe originalon June 16, 2009.
- ^abChabot, Jeff (August 8, 2017)."CinemaNow movie website & platform is no more".HD Report.RetrievedAugust 6,2018.
- ^Marshall, Matt (July 12, 2006)."CinemaNow lands $20 million, to keep up with everyone else".VentureBeat.Archivedfrom the original on March 4, 2016.RetrievedMay 17,2016.
- ^"CinemaNow Secures $20.3 Million Investment"(Press release). CinemaNow via vFinance. n.d. Archived fromthe originalon May 9, 2015.
- ^Albrecht, Chris (November 19, 2008)."Sonic Solutions to Buy CinemaNow".Gigaom.Archivedfrom the original on March 5, 2016.RetrievedMay 17,2016.
- ^Fritz, Ben (May 18, 2010)."Best option: Best Buy acquires CinemaNow name for its digital video offering".Los Angeles Times.Archivedfrom the original on May 10, 2015.RetrievedMay 17,2016.
- ^Russell, Terrence (April 17, 2009)."Best Buy breaking into movie downloads?".VentureBeat.Archivedfrom the original on March 4, 2016.
- ^Takahashi, Dean (January 4, 2010)."Sonic Solutions to launch richer version of CinemaNow movie service".VentureBeat.Archivedfrom the original on March 4, 2016.RetrievedMay 17,2016.
- ^"Rovi to Buy Sonic Solutions for $775 Million to Add Streaming to Listings".Bloomberg News.Bloomberg L.P.December 23, 2010. Archived fromthe originalon August 6, 2014.RetrievedMay 17,2016.
- ^Spangler, Todd (September 25, 2013)."Target Opens Digital Video Store, Designed to Shield Kids from R-Rated Content".Variety.Archivedfrom the original on March 4, 2016.RetrievedMay 17,2016.
- ^"Rovi Announces Intent to Pursue Sale of Rovi Entertainment Store Business and Narrows Estimates Range for Fiscal 2012"(Press release).RoviviaGlobe Newswire.January 3, 2013.Archivedfrom the original on March 5, 2016.RetrievedMay 17,2016.
- ^"Rovi Corporation Reports Second Quarter 2013 Financial Performance Announces Agreements to Sell Rovi Entertainment Store and Consumer Website Businesses"(Press release). Rovi viaMarketWatch.July 31, 2013.Archivedfrom the original on March 4, 2016.RetrievedMay 17,2016.
- ^Pringle, Sarah (November 6, 2013)."DivX likely to draw interest from strategics".The Deal.Archived fromthe originalon July 17, 2015.
- ^abSpangler, Todd (January 27, 2016)."FilmOn Buys CinemaNow Movie, TV Digital Storefront".Variety.Archivedfrom the original on February 14, 2016.RetrievedMay 17,2016.
- ^Bouma, Luke (September 7, 2017)."CinemaNow Suddenly Shuts Down Leaving Users Unable to Access Their Movies".Cord Cutters News.RetrievedAugust 6,2018.
- ^Raby, Mark (May 16, 2012)."CinemaNow app comes to Xbox Live".SlashGear.Archivedfrom the original on April 23, 2016.RetrievedAugust 14,2014.
- ^Takahashi, Dean (November 3, 2009)."Cinema Now movies-on-demand service to be built into Best Buy's web-connected gadgets".VentureBeat.Archivedfrom the original on March 4, 2016.RetrievedMay 17,2016.
- ^Lawler, Richard (December 20, 2012)."Best Buy's CinemaNow opens home disc-to-digital program, makes cloud copies of DVDs for a fee".Engadget.Archivedfrom the original on December 24, 2012.RetrievedAugust 14,2014.
External links
[edit]- CinemaNow(archivedon June 3, 2017)
- Market Wire (August 18, 2008)."'CinemaNow Selects Widevine to Enable Multiplatform Content Distribution to Consumer Electronics Devices and PCs', and 'Widevine's Open DRM and Digital Copy Protection Solution Enables CinemaNow Users to Download Digital Content Regardless of Computing Platform or Browser'".DigitalTVnews.Seattle, Washington.
- "Best Buy press release announcing the re-launch of CinemaNow (Best Buy is now the owner of Cinema Now)".BBY.May 18, 2010. Archived fromthe originalon 2010-12-05.Retrieved2010-08-15.