Red Bee acquires TV Genius

UK broadcast services provider Red Bee Media has acquired search and recommendation specialist TV Genius.

Red Bee Media offers various rich metadata services and it will merge this part of the business with TV Genius’s content discovery software for live and on-demand TV.

“A critical requirement for monetizing content across platforms and screens is to enable consumers to easily discover content in what is becoming an increasingly cluttered and fragmented marketplace”, said Bill Patrizio, CEO of Red Bee Media. “Accurate search and personally relevant recommendation is a key differentiator in addressing this challenge and this acquisition allows us to significantly enhance our current offering by investing in new technologies at the core of the future TV experience. TV Genius is at the forefront of content discovery and we’re excited to welcome them to the Red Bee Media family. Together, we intend to reinvent the EPG for online video.”

TV Genius’s technology is used by media companies including ITV, Sky, Freeview, Astra, Bauer Media, IPC Media, STV and AOL. The company recently announced the launch of a TV guide that integrates with Facebook. The new service uses TV Genius’ Content Discovery Platform to personalise TV guides; when a user logs into the EPG with Facebook Connect, all the shows their friends like are highlighted in the grid.