DirecTV said it has made strategic investments in two digital technology companies – LiveClips and i.TV – that are playing roles in a new generation of products being offered by the satellite TV service provider.
DirecTV did not disclose the amount of those investments, but they “are more than financial, they’re partnerships,” Tony Goncalves, DirecTV’s senior vice president, Digital Entertainment Products, said in a statement. “We acquire unique capabilities to embed in our products and the ability to influence roadmaps. In turn, these companies gain access to a world- class technology team and the subscriber scale of DirecTV.”
DirecTV, for example, uses LiveClips’ platform, which aggregates live, post-game or archives sports feeds, to deliver immediate personalized sports highlights and clips for its DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket app.
DirecTV said also plans to integrates i.TV’s social TV and second screen platform into its own next-gen second screen app, slated for release sometime before the end of 2013. Notably, i.TV, which powers apps for brands such as AOL, Huffington Post, Entertainment Weekly, Telus and Nintendo acquired second screen startup GetGlue last month.
