Widevine Secures $15 Million from Samsung, Liberty Global, Unnamed Satellite TV Provider

Video content security and optimization specialist, Widevine, said Monday that it has secured $15 million in new funding from Liberty Global, Samsung Ventures (the venture capital arm of Samsung Group) and an unnamed "third corporation" described in a Widevine press release as "the world's...second largest satellite provider." The company, which has raised close to $52 million to date, says that its technologies are playing a "central role" in the delivery of video over-the-top to Internet-connected retail consumer electronics devices and in the "TV Everywhere" strategies of cable, satellite and telephone companies (note: the "TV Everywhere" distribution model seeks, via authentication technology, to make programming that pay-TV customers have already paid for through their cable, satellite or IPTV subscriptions available to those customers on multiple Web sites and platforms, and thus aims to head off the threat posed to pay-TV services by the increasing availability of over-the-top programming--for some background on TV Everywhere, see the articles published on itvt.com, April 30th, May 14th, June 25th and July 15th). "Research is showing that Internet video is growing rapidly and will likely be one of the biggest markets of the next decade," Ralph Schackart, an analyst at William Blair & Company, was quoted as saying in Widevine's press release announcing the new investment. "The associated competitive response of MSO's to quickly enable 'TV Everywhere' is going to ensure no shortage of market opportunity for companies who can effectively penetrate both Internet video services and MSO's."

Widevine bills its software platform as optimizing "the entertainment experience for content delivered over any network to any device" and as providing the "necessary digital rights management technology for content rights." According to the company, the platform is used by the most popular Internet movie services and is natively supported by nearly all major brands and types of network-connected CE devices, including TV's, Blu-ray players, mobile devices, and gaming systems. "Widevine will use the additional capital to support and grow our customer base, broaden our product portfolio and defend our intellectual property," Widevine CEO, Brian Baker, said in a prepared statement. "We are thrilled with the validation of our business, technology and markets provided by these industry leaders."