After picking up the BD+ technology a couple of weeks ago as an appetizer, it looks like Macrovision has moved on to the main course. And quite a bit serving it is, as they look to acquire Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc for $2.8 billion in cash and stock. Macrovision is looking to combine their content protection technology (aka DRM) with Gemstar’s guide service to make it easier to make content portable (while still keeping it locked up, presumably):
Macrovision said it would combine its anti-piracy technology with Gemstar’s interactive television program guide, which is used by cable and satellite operators, to make protected TV shows, films, photos or music available on many more devices. Gemstar also publishes TV Guide magazine.
“For the consumer, (this deal) is all about discovery, making it very easy to find stuff (and) to acquire it, doing an automatic download,” Macrovision Chief Executive Fred Amoroso said in an interview. Amoroso would remain CEO after closing of the deal, expected by early in the second quarter.
“I want to take this movie, store it in my PC and then play it … in my daughter’s bedroom TV,” he said.
Interesting, but it seems more and more as if the content market is moving away, albeit slowly, from using DRM.
Via Gizmodo.
