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Sony Buys Video Site Grouper

Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006 at 11:20 AM - by

YouTube competitor Grouper announced that it has been purchased by Sony Pictures Entertainment on Wednesday. The deal cost Sony US$65 million.

The purchase gives Sony its own user-based video service, although not at the same level as YouTube. It does, however, give Sony another avenue for product promotion, viral marketing, and the support structure to more easily offer its own movie and TV show downloads.

Grouper's video downloads are formatted for both Sony's PSP and Apple's iPod, which will give Sony the versatility to offer content to users that otherwise would go to the iTunes Music Store. The company also offers its own Windows-only software to help budding video artists create and upload their home made movies.

For now, Sony doesn't plan to change the Grouper format. In the future, however, it may develop ad-supported and premium content to the site.

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