CBS Corporation has bought a minority stake in Syncbak, a technology company that streams local TV stations across the web and to mobile devices.
Announcing the strategic move, CBS said it “expects to work closely with its owned and affiliated television stations as well as advertisers, rights holders, cable, satellite and telco partners in the coming months and years as Syncbak becomes fully activated and deployed.”
At the same time, CBS said Syncbak will continue to offer its platform to other broadcast networks and their station groups. Syncbak’s technology is currently being tested by more than 100 television stations in 70 markets, including major US networks like CBS, ABC, Fox, NBC and The CW.
The move follows CBS’s ongoing spat with Aereo, a firm that uses a similar TV channel streaming technology.
Last year Aereo was hit by lawsuits from 17 broadcasters including Fox, Univision, ABC, NBC, CBS, alleging that the service infringed their copyrights. They claimed that Aereo should not be allowed to retransmit television stations over the web without licensing the content from content owners or receiving consent from the TV signal owners.
However, earlier this month, a ruling by the second circuit court of appeals in New York upheld a previous decision, denying an injunction against the firm for distributing broadcast television over the web. Aereo is currently live in New York and plans to launch in 22 new US cities this year. In January the startup raised US$38 million (€29 million) in funding.
ICYMI: Digital TV Europe is excited to announce the release of our 2021 Industry Survey!
Thank you to our sponsors… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
05 March 2021 @ 19:00:02 UTC
DTVE: the week in view – The live-streaming revolution digitaltveurope.com/comment/the-li… https://t.co/pt7qxb6Ul7
05 March 2021 @ 18:32:30 UTC
Vodafone Portugal gets Gametoon in renewed SPI/FilmBox deal digitaltveurope.com/2021/03/05/vod… https://t.co/I0gFmgtOFb
05 March 2021 @ 18:00:00 UTC
Combat sports app FITE TV launches on LG digitaltveurope.com/2021/03/05/com… https://t.co/xGeY9Ibm98
05 March 2021 @ 16:00:02 UTC
APAC OTT market at ‘critical mass’ with 392 million users digitaltveurope.com/2021/03/05/apa… https://t.co/lJ0Ppfqms5
05 March 2021 @ 15:00:02 UTC