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Today Shelby.tv, a former graduate of the Techstars startup incubator, announced that it has been acquired by Samsung.
Although New York-based Shelby.tv launched in 2011 with praise, the startup struggled to remain in the limelight and later went dark during a long-term product redesign.
According to the company’s formal announcement, the service will shut down July 1, 2014. However, the team shares that Shelby.tv will live on as a separate entity developing “new technology … as part of Samsung Electronics.”
We reached out to cofounder Reece Pacheco, who said he was very excited about joining Samsung.
“We’re really excited. We’re working on some bad-ass stuff,” Pacheco said.
Samsung is acquiring the six-person Shelby.tv team, making this a “manquisition” (and they are all men).
Samsung is not acquiring other Shelby assets, the Shelby blog explained:
Shelby will remain an independent entity and will retain its business, products and customers, but will begin winding down its operations. We know you’ve spent a lot of time with Shelby, and have consequently built a library of favorite videos worth saving. So, we built a handy tool to export all of your favorites/shares from Shelby. Just be sure you are logged into Shelby, and then follow the simple instructions on this page and enjoy digging back into your archive! You have until July 1, but why not do it now!
Hinting at the team’s future products, Shelby.tv notes, “Consumers still demand an innovative solution to accessing their favorite content.”
This deal follows Samsung’s $30 million acquisition of Boxee and reflects Samsung’s continued interests in building a media platform. It seems likely that the Shelby.tv team will join the Boxee team within Samsung.
A serial entrepreneur, this is Pacheco’s first corporate gig.
“We’re gonna put our heads down and go to work pretty hard,” he added.
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