Israeli and NYC-based streaming media and entertainment startup Boxee has reportedly been acquired by South Korean electronics giant Samsung.
The news comes from an Israeli-based site, The Marker, though both Boxee and Samsung have declined to comment on the matter other than Samsung reporting it has "acquired key talent and assets from Boxee." The Marker originally reported the start-up was purchased for $30 million.
According to TechCrunch, if this figure is correct, it isn't good news for Boxee, who's focus on hardware and current funding totals $26.5 million. However, despite the statement from Samsung about "key talent," they believe the entire Boxee staff of around 45 people is included in the deal.
Samsung has been making a hard push into Internet-connected televisions, nicknamed "smart TVs," for some time now. Earlier this year, the New York Times reports the company said the majority of its sets would be smart TVs from here on out. Despite Samsung being a leader in smartphone technology, its smart TV interface has been lacking in the past years with many criticizing it for being impractical and difficult to use.
This is where many believe the appeal of Boxee is for Samsung. For a few years now, Boxee has made a name for itself as being a successful startup at the Consumer Electronics Show. The company's latest device, The Boxee Cloud DVR, was a huge success providing users with an interface that surpassed most outdated cable boxes, according to The Verge. The system began as a WalMart exclusive feature where people could pay $10 a month to have a DVR recording service right in their living rooms without the hassle of a generic cable box.
With the acquisition of the Boxee, Samsung might be able to make a legitimate push to compete with Apple TV, which is currently in talks to acquire Time Warner Cable, or the Roku Box to bring internet connectivity to the home and replace the generic cable box system that most living rooms in the U.S. are equipped with.
