Rovi acquires set-top startup Fanhattan

Pay-TV metadata and interface specialist Rovi has acquired four-year-old startup Fanhattan for an undisclosed sum.

Privately funded with $8.4 million in capital, San Francisco-based Fanhattan has been pitching pay-TV operators, with limited success, on a next-generation set-top which is designed to integrate online video with cable programming.

Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) launched a branded version of the product, Fan TV, for $99 earlier this year, selling the box as a compliment to its digital video recorders. And Cox tested the box out in Southern California last year. So far, however, DVR-reliant operators have not widely embraced the product, billed as an all-in-one video solution, but which is lacking DVR capabilities. 

Rovi, which is also trying to create guides that integrate effective content discovery features, wants to try to take Fanhattan to "the next level."

"Rovi prides itself in realizing innovations before the industry demands them, and we are excited to augment our next-generation guidance and discovery solutions with an award-winning unified entertainment experience," said Omar Javaid, senior VP and GM of Rovi's Discovery Group. "We believe the Fanhattan technologies and team will complement Rovi's advanced metadata, semantic discovery, and predictive analytics capabilities to offer truly differentiated solutions to our customers."

Rovi reports the deal as an all-cash transaction.

For more:
- read this Rovi press release
- read this Variety story

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