Samsung Acquires Boxee For $30 Million, Keeps Staff Employed

Samsung has acquired set-top box manufacturer Boxee. Reports suggest that the tech firm was picked up for a modest $30 million.

The acquisition will likely mean that Samsung will begin incorporating Boxee technology into its own line-up of smart TV and streaming media devices.

According to Israeli news site The Marker, Samsung released a statement in which is said the company had “acquired key talent and assets” which will “help us continue to improve the overall user experience across our connected devices.”

Boxee to date has received $28.5 million from investors, and, while Samsung’s acquisition price isn’t expected to be much higher, it did hire 40 members of the Boxee staff to work at Samsung.

Samsung has not yet revealed if Boxee will continue to sell devices under its own moniker or if its current services will switch over solely to Samsung enabled devices.

It was only this past April that Boxee relaunched its Boxee Box as an “all-access” Cloud DVR service. The Boxee Box service is currently operational in eight metropolitan areas and provides users with unlimited storage of TV online for $10 per month. A free Boxee Box service providers for five hours of DVR playback per month.

Boxee Boxes currently sell for $99 each.

Purchasing the established set-top box company may prove to be a smart move for Samsung as the company attempts to compete with a growing number of set-top box and Smart TV providers. As more users, myself included, continue to move away from cable and towards, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime Instant Video, and other online services, the need for online streaming technology is becoming crucial for TV manufacturers.

Samsung has always been quick to implement acquired technologies with its devices which means we should hear and see more about the company’s Boxee acquisitino plans in the near future.

Do you think Boxee technology will be well implemented by the team at Samsung?