Harmonic buys Rhozet for mobile video

Harmonic Inc. announced that it will acquire Rhozet Corp. for $15.5 million to expand its presence in the online and mobile video provisioning space. The combined companies will boost Harmonic’s existing customers’ ability to create and deliver online and mobile video programming, it said.
The purchase will be made in cash and around 1.1 million shares of Harmonic stock, according to the agreement. Although the deal is subject to closing conditions, Harmonic expects the transaction to close by the end of the month.
“Viewers are increasingly turning to the Internet and mobile devices to watch an ever-expanding range of video content,” said Patrick Harshman, president and CEO of Harmonic. “Today’s video programming includes everything from television shows and movies created for traditional broadcast and on-demand distribution, to webisodes and user-generated content specifically developed for online and mobile distribution.”
Rhozet’s software transcoding technology, which is already in use by more than 100 customers including Amazon.com, MSN, EPSN, MTV Networks, Sony, The Weather Channel and Yahoo among others, will compliment Harmonic’s broadcast and on-demand distribution technology, he said.
“We believe that our combined solutions will make it possible for service providers to deliver superior quality video to virtually any device,” Harshman added.