The TV is the last screen in most people’s homes to be conquered by the Internet. Although with so many companies both big and small going after that screen—Google, Apple, Boxee, Roku—it seems like someone will eventually figure it out. Now you can add to that list Fanhattan, a new company spun off from Vuze, the maker of the popular Bittorrent client which has been downloaded 150 million times. Despite its origins, Fanhattan is built to please media companies and Hollywood studios as much as consumers.
Fanhattan combines a consistent, easy-to-navigate user interface with a deep database of movies and TV shows to make discovering videos from the Internet even simpler than finding them on cable TV. (Watch the demo below and my interview with CEO Gilles BianRosa). Fanhattan acquired TMDb, the Open Movie Database, which powers the search and browsing features of the service. TMDb will relaunch as Fanhattan on the Web in January, followed by Mac and PC clients. The company is in discussions with various device manufacturers and cable companies to integrate its video browsing interface in their products and services. → Read More
There’s a bit of a controversy in the BitTorrent community, friends. Two rather prominent, so-called private trackers, whose names I will not mention “just because,” have announced that they will be banning Vuze, the former Azureus, one of the elder statesmen of the BitTorrent protocol. Say what you will about the direction Vuze took—I hated it—but there isn’t a more powerful torrent client under the sun. Make no mistake about it: it is an important loss, and one of the bigger developments is the recently quiet world of BitTorrent. → Read More
Those of you who stopped using Azureus when it mutated into Vuze may want to reconsider your decision. The BitTorrent client now supports video playback on the PS3 and Xbox 360. That is, once the computer on which Vuze is running and your PS3 or Xbox 360 are on the same network, Vuze will play the video and send it to your TV, no matter what file format the video is in. I just tried it out using my Xbox 360, and here’s what I found. → Read More
BitTorrent-based video distribution service Vuze, which we last covered in June and was previously known as Azureus, has raised $20M in a Series C round of funding led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and joined by existing investors Redpoint Ventures, Greycroft Partners, BV Capital, and Jarl Mohn. The round brings Vuze’s investment total to $34M after a Series A of $2M with BV Capital and a Series B of $12M with Redpoint, Greycroft, BV Capital, and Mohn. As part of this Series C, TiVo co-founder Mike Ramsay is joining Vuze’s board of directors. The company says that it has reached an installation base of 15 million. Vuze users must install a downloadable client before they can begin loading (and seeding) TV and movie content from 100 content partners, including some bigger names such as the BBC and Showtime. Vuze recently petitioned the FCC to restrict internet throttling by ISPs, a practiced which threatens the BitTorrent protocol on which the service depends. CrunchBase Information Vuze Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
