No One Takes To TakeTV; SanDisk Closes Video-To-TV Service After Eight Months

(PaidContent.org)  This story was written by Rafat Ali.

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Wow, that was really quick, and meanwhile, the dream of moving online video to TV continues to be just that, Youtube-on-boobtube type deals notwithstanding: Sandisk has closed down its USB PC-to-TV video device TakeTV, along with its accompanying online service Fanfare, about eight months after it announced the service, reports NTV. The concept of the service was a simple one: a USB flash drive that can carry videos downloaded on a PC for playback on TVs, but as the NTV story points out, it was a few steps to many to get the content onto TV, and then distribution and marketing remains the biggest hurdle on a physical consumer retail device like this.

And then, Sandisk is not known as a content distribution player, nor did it have the chops to do enough content acquisition to make the Fanfare service comprehensive enough. The service had relatively restricted deals with NBCU (which was banking on this device as part of its iTunes-hedging strategy), CBS (NYSE: CBS), The devices will still work, but the owners will have to download videos from other services.


By Rafat Ali