Boxee put out a funding press release yesterday, in what amounts to $16.5 million of fresh cash. These sorts of announcements don’t generally motivate us to write. While money’s always changing hands, and this seems like a notable bet on Internet video, we’re more interested in tangible products. But what caught my attention was this one sentence:
We would also like to see Boxee handle all the video on a TV with no need to switch inputs.
And that sentiment is corroborated by my CES conversation with CEO Avner Ronen:
Last, but not least, as I was admiring the funky little D-Link Boxee Box I mentioned to Avner that it’d be real nice to have a Boxee Box with a tuner… and he agreed.
Given the current US landscape, they’d be crazy to go the CableCARD route as a means of channeling digital cable. But I’m willing to bet there’s a market for a well-done Internet-connected media box that also happens to tune ATSC OTA content… without a TiVo-esque subscription fee. But would they merely tune local broadcasts or would Boxee also provide DVR capabilities? Also, could we attach an USB accessory onto the existing and upcoming Boxee boxes or would this require an entirely new piece of hardware?