Sony and Samsung Announce Support for New SoniXCast Platform
New York, New York USA, August 5, 2014 (Newswire.com) - The SoniXCast, Sony partnership goes back to 2006 with the funding of SoniXCast's AnyCastIP platform. The platform (14 patent requests total, 2 awarded, 12 pending) was developed specifically to implement existing internet infrastructure and innovative networking techniques to provide highly accessible, reliable, encrypted data transfer services the result of which helped catapult SoniXCast's retail business model. Sony's use of AnyCastIP provides the basis for their worldwide in-house content production network.
The new SoniXCast platform is based on AnyCastIP, but includes aggregated content from 3rd party providers (i.e.: iTunes, YouTube...) as well as seamless integration with content publishers (i.e.: TuneIn, Facebook...).
The new SoniXCast platform is based on AnyCastIP, but includes aggregated content from 3rd party providers (i.e.: iTunes, YouTube...) as well as seamless integration with content publishers (i.e.: TuneIn, Facebook...).
Brian Walton, CEO
The break for SoniXCast's new platform came in July 2014 when received the nod from YouTube and LastFM to use content in the JukeBox (jukebox.sonixcast.com) music aggregation service. The product (released in public beta in the beginning of July 2014) was developed as a cost effective alternative to the popular TouchTunes (www.touchtunes.com) platform which provides music services to commercial establishments. Sony immediately saw the potential.
Samsung, Roku and Microsoft were pitched simultaneously as Sony was. Microsoft initially turned down the concept and Roku has yet to respond, but Samsung informed sources today the the product has passed executive board review and a formal letter of intent was being drafted.
"Initially, we were going to explore crowdfunding as a source for the project, but due to the influx of support by our commercial partners, we are instead pursuing more classical funding sources which will result in quicker market returns" stated CEO Walton. He also stated that he is enlisting the the help of his mentor and former JBL president Ron Means (www.linkedin.com/in/rhmeans) to assist in navigation of funding opportunities.
He went on to say that part of the requirements set by their commercial partners was to be production ready by the end of the year. "I've already announced ShoutBox and SoniX-FM for release in August and BoomBox for December 2014. Most of the development work has already been done, but we'll still need help in the implementation and will be ramping up for that in September. Basically, we have 0 amount time to do everything."
When pressed on the legalities, he stated: "We do not assume the role of content provider. All licensing is grandfathered through the originating content provider, but we do require agreements as a formality. For our own catalog, we've negotiated agreements with the major performance rights organizations and/or directly with the content producers for exclusive broadcast rights which give customers much more protections.
He went to say: "Internet radio is downtrending as evident in AOL's sale of ShoutCast to Radionomy and we will continue to offer retail hosting services as long as there is a demand for it. However, the future of SoniXCast is in providing integrated, on-demand cloud services with appropriately licensed aggregated content and through our commercial partners we are venturing into new, more voluminous markets at a rate never before experienced."
