Sony Effectively Buys Video Show Rocketboom; Seven Figures?
This story was written by Rafat Ali.
Sony (NYSE: SNE) continues on its knack of, well, picking up things well past their prime (in keeping with its other habit of messing up a good thing going): its subsidiary Sony Pictures Television has bought the worldwide distribution rights to the once-pioneering video podcast/show Rocketboom. It will be integrated into its original video entertainment site Crackle (fka Grouper), the video site which SPT also bought two years ago for $65 million, much past its prime. It will also be distributed across other Sony platforms such as the PS3, PSP, and Bravia I-Link TVs.
Besides distribution, SPT will handle all of Rocketboom's ad sales. TC says the deal is "seven-figure guarantee plus a share of revenues." If the deal doesn't do well, Rocketboom presumably would "regain complete control of distribution and ad sales after the contract expires."
By Rafat Ali