London – U.K. grocery store chain Tesco announced on
Wednesday that it has acquired an 80% stake in Blinkbox, a movie streaming
service, from Eden Ventures and Nordic Venture Partners.
Financial details of
the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 2008, Blinkbox counts 2 million
monthly users of its service, which features 9,000 titles available to rent or
buy, along with free movies, TV shows and trailers that may be viewed on a PC,
game consoles, tablets and Internet-connected televisions.
"Whether
customers want to own the DVD, download a digital movie, stream a rental or all
three, Tesco is committed to giving customers choice," sad Tesco CEO
Richard Brasher.
"We want to allow them to decide how they access
entertainment content and on which devices, whether it’s on PC, TV or tablet.
The acquisition of blinkbox, together with a range of other services currently
in development, means we can link physical purchase of a product to the building
of digital collections in a new and seamless way."
Related Links:
http://www.tescoplc.com/plc/media/pr/pr2011/2011-04-20/
