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blinkbox

Initial release	2007 (2007)
Operating system	Windows XP (x86 only), Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 Mac OS X (x86 only), Xbox 360, PS3, iOS, Android
Available in	English
Type	Video on demand, TV
Website	www.blinkbox.com

Blinkbox is a UK-based video-on-demand (VoD) service.

The service is available on Mac, Windows, games consoles, tablet and Smart TV.

Blinkbox was co-founded by Michael Comish (chief executive officer) and Adrian Letts (chief operating officer), former senior executives of Channel 4 and Vodafone in 2006 and launched in 2008 with the backing of a number of venture capital firms, including Arts Alliance. On 20 April 2011, Tesco acquired an 80% stake in blinkbox from Eden Ventures and Nordic Venture Partners. It intends to use the company to boost its digital entertainment offering.^[1]

Blinkbox has around 2.8 million users a month according to comScore.

Offer [edit]

Blinkbox has content deals with studios including Warner Bros., Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and 20th Century Fox and more than 15 leading independent producers such as FremantleMedia, All3Media, Revolver Entertainment and Aardman Animations.

Blinkbox also moved into the TV market by signing a deal with the Samsung Group allowing blinkbox films to be streamed directly though any Internet@TV Samsung TVs. blinkbox also formed a content partnership with YouTube^[2] allowing the site to carry blinkbox films on its new Movies section. The site also entered the games market by being the first site in the UK to offer streaming film content through Sony’s PlayStation 3 console.^[2]

In June 2010, Blinkbox launched the "Full Stream Ahead"^[3] campaign bringing together leading film studios to offer free movie content for one week to encourage consumer adoption of streaming technology and demonstrating the advantages of legal streaming services over illegal file-sharing.

Business model [edit]

Blinkbox is the only service of its kind to have a combined free-pay offering, allowing users to stream paid-for feature titles alongside free, advert-supported TV and film content.

Additionally, a significant number of titles are free to watch, with revenue generated by advertisements during playback, similar to commercial television.

Technology [edit]

Rental content can be streamed directly to a Windows PC, Mac, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or Samsung Smart TV, and can be viewed any number of times within 48 hours. Buy-to-own content can be viewed without limit. The Blinkbox app is built into all pre 2012 Samsung Smart TVs.

Content is protected with Microsoft's Windows Media DRM digital rights management and requires Silverlight to play. Blinkbox cannot be used on Linux.

Blinkbox are currently in the process of creating a Blinkbox Music an online music streaming service to rival Spotify with the acquirement of WE7. ^[4]

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Official website