Monday, November 16, 2015ZoneTV Raises $4.1MSanta Monica-based ZoneTV, a provider of services to the pay television industry, said this morning that it has raised $4.1M in a seed funding round. The round was led by BEST Funds. ZoneTV said it provides personal, dynamic TV experiences for pay TV operators, content providers, and audiences. The company is led by Jeff Weber, and has offices in Santa Monica; Toronto, Canada; and Pickering, Canada. Weber was previously President of Content and Advertising for AT&T, and was appointed CEO of the (More info...)
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Fuze, Once Known As CallWave, Acquired By ThinkingPhonesFuze, the latest incarnation of onetime high flying telephony service Callwave, has been acquired by ThinkingPhones, the two companies announced this morning. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Fuze, which still had offices in Santa Barbara, offered up cloud-based teleconferencing services. Callwave was founded in 1998, had its IPO back in 2004, but moved to San Francisco in 2009.
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Vizio's TVs Watching, Sharing Viewers' Every Move, Says GroupWorried about the government and others watching your every move? A group says that televisions manufactured by Irvine-based Vizio are providing an unprecedented amount of data to marketers, collecting information on very time you watch TV, what shows you are viewing on both traditional TV and on the Internet, and connecting that all to your IP address to figure out your gender, age, income, interests, and more. Propublica said that the data is all being colelcted through Vizio's smart TVs by de (More info...)
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Report: Hulu Seeks To Sell Stake To Time WarnerLos Angeles-based streaming television service Hulu is looking to sell a stake in the company to Time Warner, according to a report, which would value Hulu at $5 billion. According to the WSJ, Disney, 21st Century Fox and Comcast are looking to make Time Warner an equal partner in the streaming telvision company, to help further Hulu's efforts to compete with Netflix; in addition to cash, Time Warner would bring Hulu more exclusive content, said the report.
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Flipagram, One Direction Team On New Single ReleaseLos Angeles-based social sharing service Flipagram is powering the release of a new single from the band One Direction, which was released on Firday. Flipagram--whose tools help users share quick, mobile photo and video slideshows--said One Direction's new single, "Perfect", from One Direction's new album Made In The A.M., was released on Flipagram on Friday. Flipagram, led by startup veteran Farhad Mohit, lets users tie photos, videos, and music together, using music tracks licensed from Univer (More info...)
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ID Analytics Sets Marketing VPSan Diego-based identity risk management software developer ID Analytics has named Eric Lindeen as the company's new Vice President of Marketing, the company announced this morning. Lindeen joins the company from Zoot Enterprises, where he was VP of Solution Marketing; he has served at Zoot since 1998. ID Analytics said Lindeen has more than 25 years of marketing and technology experience.
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OpenX Launches New Flexible Ad ProductLos Angeles-based OpenX has launched support for flexible ad units, increasing the capabilities of its platform, the company said late last week. OpenX said the new support lets advertisers multiple size ad units into a singular auction, which it says will help buyers access inventory in its exchange. The company said the support also helps publishers with yield increases.
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Ixia Aims At Global ChannelCalabasas-based Ixia, which develops networking testing hardware and software, announced this morning that it has launched a new, partner program, specifically aimed at the global market. Ixia said its new Global Solutions Provider Program (GSPP) will help global solutions providers, by offering up support for planning and design, performance and security testing, and more. Other details on the program were not announced.
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