With traditional television subscribers up during the last quarter of 2010, you might think that the idea of cord-cutting in favor of the internet is losing its luster for investors. But the dream is alive for Boxee, which has just picked up an additional $16.5 million in funding with which it plans to woo more content providers and convince others that it’s a viable alternative to cable and satellite.
Boxee occupies an odd place in the VoD landscape, in that it isn’t necessarily seeking to replace television as we know it as much as it aims to offer an alternative – CBS has already signed a deal to provide content to the service alongside more traditional VoD services Netflix and Vudu, and it’s rumored that part of the new funding may go towards convincing other networks to sign up for their own channels on the service as well. As CEO Avner Ronen acknowledges on the official company blog,
There are many more sources of content on our ToDo list in the US and internationally. We realize that with every new content source we make Boxee more valuable. We will increase the pace.
(Also on the ToDo list, according to that post: Add to the number of partners using Boxee software, and fix the bugs in the software to give users a better experience.)
The money raised in this round of funding almost triples the $6 million raised 18 months ago, and comes from prior investors General Catalyst, Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures, along with newcomers Pitango and Softbank; as a result of Pitango’s investment, that company’s Isaac Hillel will join the company board.
Whether all of this is enough to lift the visibility of the company – Do that many people really know what Boxee is or what it does? – to the point where content providers would consider licensing for more than just monetary reasons remains to be seen. $16.5 million sounds like a lot of money, but is it nearly enough to get Boxee to where it needs to be to succeed?
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Netflix Finally Makes It To Boxee
Hulu’s Take on the Future of TV: Everyone Wins (Except Cable)