Following Sale Of Video On-Demand Service, Tesco Offloads Blinkbox Music And Shutters Ebook Offering

Blink and you missed it. Following the sale earlier this month of its TV and movie on-demand service, Tesco is ridding itself of its music streaming and ebook offerings, too.

Blinkbox Music, the UK retail giant’s re-branded music streaming service after it acquired We7 back in 2012, is being offloaded to Australia’s Guvera to help the latter “expand into Western Europe faster.” Blinkbox Music currently claims 2.5 million registered users and, like Guvera, which is already available in 20 markets worldwide, comes in ad-supported and paid-for versions.

Meanwhile, Blinkbox Books, the ebook service previously known as Mobcast that Tesco acquired for $7.2 million, also in 2012, is to be deadpooled next month after a last-minute sale to Waterstones reportedly fell through.

As I predicted earlier this month, this really does seem to spell the end of Tesco’s Amazon-esque digital content strategy, as falling profits have forced it to return to its core business of selling groceries and other physical goods, brick ‘n’ mortar style.

What isn’t so clear, however, is where it leaves the retail giant’s own ‘me-too’ Android-powered tablet, called Hudl, which seemed to play as part of its on-demand video, music streaming and ebook digital strategy. Again, aping competitor Amazon.

I’ve asked Tesco about the future of its tablet and will update this post should I hear back.