Rovi Acquires Fanhattan Discovery and Navigation Technology

SANTA CLARA, CALIF.—Rovi Corp. announced that it has acquired Fanhattan, a venture-backed startup, in an all-cash transaction for an undisclosed sum. Fanhattan does multiscreen, multisource, cloud-based and Fan TV-branded discovery. Rovi said it expects the Fanhattan technology to complement its own advanced metadata, semantic discovery, and predictive analytics capabilities.

This acquisition accelerates Rovi’s intention to deliver next-generation guidance and discovery using advanced cloud, user interface and hardware technologies. Fan TV seamlessly integrates different sources of programming, such as linear television, video-on-demand, and over-the-top video into an elegant consumer experience. Fanhattan founders, Gilles BianRosa and Olivier Chalouhi, will continue to drive their vision forward as part of the leadership team in Rovi’s Discovery Products Business Group.

Combining Rovi and Fanhattan capabilities, the company said it will offer customers faster time-to-market and improved flexibility deploying next-generation discovery and media experiences across multiple screens. The combined solution enables a scalable and modular cloud-based platform supporting IP and hybrid set-top boxes, DVR functionality and personalized interactive user-interfaces through reference design hardware and a software development kit.