If you recall, MovieBeam was a Disney service similar to Akimbo offering pay-per-view rentals of downloaded movies via leased set-top boxes. After testing the service in a few markets, Disney shut it down and later spun off the company. Most, including myself, figured it was gone for good despite comments that service would be relaunched at a later date. Now it appears there may still be some life in this company as they’ve received a major investment from Cisco.
Wouldn’t it be cool if the rumored Netflix VOD box and MovieBeam relaunch were one and the same… ah, to dream.
eWeek says: Cisco Systems Inc. said on Monday it has made an investment in MovieBeam Inc., the on-demand movie service that Walt Disney Co. spun off in January. Cisco, Disney and several venture capital firms including Intel Corp.’s Intel Capital, Mayfield Fund, Norwest Venture Partners and Vantage Point Venture Partners invested $48.5 million in MovieBeam, according to MovieBeam spokeswoman Michelle Cox.