Tesco acquires majority of Blinkbox to take Internet-on-TV mainstream

Back in January Amazon acquired pan-European movie rental and streaming service LoveFilm at a rumoured valuation of $312 million.

Today Tesco, the world’s third largest retailer and a UK high street giant, has acquired an 80 percent stake in British video-on-demand startup Blinkbox from investors Eden Ventures and Nordic Venture Partners for an undisclosed sum.

Blinkbox, which was launched in April 2008 by CEO Michael Comish, has a catalogue of over 9,000 Hollywood films, a number of TV series and claims around 2 million users per month.

Last year Blinkbox secured a partnership with YouTube’s new UK movies service which allows UK viewers to watch over 400 films for free, by striking deals with US film studios including Sony Pictures.

Blinkbox recently became the first optimised legal movie streaming service for Playstation 3 owners in the UK.