HTC buys 20 percent stake in SyncTV

HTC has purchased a 20 percent stake in streaming service SyncTV, further increasing its interests in content and diversifying away from its handset business. SyncTV provides a Video on Demand platform for a number of content providers around the world, most notably NBC Universal, Japan’s Dream Link Entertainment, and the Caribbean’s Lime TV. The company develops for a range of devices — including iOS, Windows Phone, and Android, along with smart TVs and games consoles — though notably not HTC’s Watch service (for now, at least). The announcement comes from SyncTV parent Intertrust, a DRM provider, as part of a wider strategic partnership with HTC where it will license a number of Intertrust’s patents.

For HTC this is the latest in a line of investments and acquisitions. The company made a $40 million investment into cloud gaming service OnLive in February last year, along with acquiring a controlling stake in Beats Audio late last year. In turn, Beats recently bought music streaming service MOG — not a direct purchase by HTC, but still another way for the Taiwanese manufacturer to gain ground in content provision rather than hardware.