Rovi Acquires SideReel.com - Launches AllRovi.com: An Immersive and Interactive Film and Music Site for Entertainment Fans

written by: Richard Kastelein

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Published on Wednesday, 02 March 2011 00:10

To fulfill consumers' desire for information and content, Rovi Corporation (Nasdaq:ROVI) today launched www.AllRovi.com, creating a unique experience for entertainment enthusiasts. Using proprietary Rovi technology, including advanced search and recommendation functionality, AllRovi brings one of the largest libraries of music and movie information to the Web – making it easy to find details on favorite artists, actors and films, and discover new music and movies based on mood, genre, chronology, favorites and more. Now in open beta, users will find a visually engaging, interactive way to experience entertainment at www.AllRovi.com.

In addition, Rovi announced that it has acquired Sidereel.com, a popular TV website with content on 24,000 shows and 530,000 episodes and the ability to connect consumers to TV content available on the web. With SideReel, Rovi expands its online presence from movies, music, games and books to TV content, rounding out the company's ability to deliver a full entertainment discovery experience for consumers on the web.

"We launched AllRovi to give consumers an immersive entertainment experience – where they can find significant amounts of information, related art, reviews – everything about the films and music they love," said Dave Jordan, vice president of marketing, Rovi. "By adding the SideReel.com website to our online portfolio, we believe Rovi can be the go-to source for finding and enjoying online content."

Janko Roettgers from Gigaom covered with deal and provided some great insight:

"...the acquisition is an interesting move for Rovi, which has been on a buying spree ever since it changed its name from Macrovision. The company acquired the content recommendation specialist Media Unbound about a year ago, and it spent $720 million on Sonic Solutions in December. Rovi’s core business proposition has been its TotalGuide, an EPG for connected devices. Now it’s bringing that programming guide to the web, directly competing for the eyes and clicks of consumers with AllRovi.com.

AllRovi has been designed to offer an original experience based on a rich collection of film and music data that goes back more than 50 years and covers more than three million TV programs, two million album releases, 27 million music tracks and 500,000 movies. By registering for AllRovi, entertainment enthusiasts are able to create a personalized profile. As they explore the site, registered users may receive customized recommendations based on their activity, find favorites, review ratings and make new discoveries based on the entertainment they already enjoy.

Additional features include the ability to:

• Read unique editorial content including blogs, showcased albums and movies, and reviews from seasoned entertainment specialists;
• Access music samples, music videos and movie trailers;
• Find out the best sellers, what's "hot" based on trends in user activity; and,
• Purchase content directly through iTunes and Amazon.com.
  

Today's consumer can find Rovi technology and data on televisions, mobile devices, media players, infotainment centers and the Internet. AllRovi is yet another way that Rovi is connecting consumers to the entertainment content they crave. For more information, visit www.AllRovi.com.

Consumers can continue to access SideReel at www.sidereel.com.