Spyglass Inc. has agreed to merge with OpenTV, a worldwide provider of interactive TV software that plans to buy all of Spyglass’ outstanding stock in a stock-for-stock transaction valued at about $2.5 billion.
By acquiring Spyglass, OpenTV hopes to expand its interactive digital TV services into the wireless communications market, and vice versa.
“OpenTV will deliver a complete-and very compelling-array of software solutions and services to network operators, broadcasters, wireless operators and manufacturers at a time when digital interactive television and broadband Internet connectivity are rapidly becoming a reality around the world,” said Jan Steenkamp, president and chief executive officer of OpenTV in a statement.
In a CNBC Business Video interview, Steenkamp said merging the two companies’ technologies could possibly allow users to view digital television on wireless phones, but may also allow on-demand Internet services optimized for wireless phones, such as personalized stock updates, sports scores and traffic information, to be accessible on television.
“All that information is equally appropriate to the television viewer as it is to the mobile telephony user,” he said.
OpenTV provides set-top box software for interactive digital TV applications. Spyglass is an Internet consulting and software company focused on an Internet consulting and translation software product called Prism that reorganizes and reconfigures standard Internet content for either set-top TV boxes or wireless phone screens.
OpenTV said it plans to integrate Spyglass’ TV software technologies into its own, while spinning off the company’s wireless concerns and Internet consulting into separate business units specifically to build on Spyglass’ existing relationships in the wireless industry.
Doug Colbeth, Spyglass chairman and CEO, will remain with the new company as executive vice president of corporate development for the new wireless unit, while Martin Leamy, Spyglass president, will become general manager of the newly formed Consulting Services business unit.
Current Spyglass customers include GTE Wireless, Motorola Inc., NEC Corp., Nokia Corp., Sony and Microsoft Corp. The company recently signed a reseller agreement with Openbase Inc., which will sell the Spyglass Prism content delivery and transformation platform in Korea.
