DivX Acquired By Sonic Solutions With Hollywood Streaming In Mind

DivX Inc, the company that owns the codec which made your early 2000s movie downloads look actually not too bad, is being acquired by Sonic Solutions, a content delivery company, for a reported $US300 million. Sonic’s been working in circular media like CDs and DVDs for years – they own the popular Roxio brand – but is now looking to the internet as the content delivery platform of the future. DivX, a current competitor of Sonic’s, has been helping deliver video content to internet users, legally and otherwise, for years.

Last year Sonic Solutions partnered with Best Buy to provide a video content delivery network for the retailer, with the eventual aim of providing Sonic’s CinemaNow stremaing movie service on Best Buy’s entire line of internet-connected devices. DivX already handles the digital content for Warner Bros, Sony Pictures, Paramount, Lionsgate and Overture Films, so from the looks of things the acquisition will quickly make CinemaNow a whole lot more cinematic. [Sonic]