Boxee Announces Content Deal with CBS
LAS VEGAS—Boxee, which creates a software platform for streaming online video to the living room or the computer, made several announcements at CES today that extend both its content library and where that content can be played.
The biggest news is that Boxee has signed a content agreement with CBS that will allow users to purchase full episodes of new and classic shows. CBS titles will be available sometime this year. Boxee didn't say if this would change the current ability to stream shows available from CBS.com for free. Whichever the case, it's a validation for the platform and it brings significant premium content to Boxee users.
While Windows and Macintosh versions of the Boxee platform have already been able to download Vudu's on-demand movies, Boxee also announced that the ability will soon be available to Boxee Box users as well. Vudu recently announced that it will soon stream 3D movies, and those will be available to Boxee Box users.
Viewsonic announced its first connected TV running the Boxee platform, so that's a few more people who can access Boxee content, no box required. The set has a 46-inch screen and is powered by an Intel Atom CE4100 chip.
Finally, Boxee's executives are privately previewing an iPad app at the show, which will bring some useful features to users when it's approved and in the iTunes App Store. The app lets users view videos from their Watch Later list or their Feed. These are available without a sync required. Videos viewed on the iPad can be sent to D-Link, Iomega, or Viewsonic Boxee devices with one click. The app will launch on the iPad first, with an iPhone and iPod Touch version possibly following sometime in the future.
This news follows an announcement from Tuesday that Iomega is bringing out a network attached storage device that runs Boxee software. Boxee is an underdog in the set-top market, but it's off to a strong start in 2011.
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