SonicBlue (Replay/Rio) Bought By D&M

An anonymous reader writes "Here's the announcement that many have been waiting for all week. Yesterday, the ReplayTV and Rio product lines of now-defunct SonicBlue were auctioned off in a bankruptcy court. Despite earlier negotiations failing to result in a deal, the Japanese holding company D&M, makers of high-end Denon and Marantz stereo gear, bought the product lines for $36.2 million. The big question is what about all of the "lifetime subscriptions" that people bought? No answers as of yet, but we can all be hopeful."

Comments

That's not much money

[Ignorant Aardvark]

Only $36.2 million? That's really not that much for an entire line of TiVO-like products. It sounds to me like D&M might make a killing off this investment, if they play their cards right.

Re:That's not much money

[Scyber]

Yes, but SB was already saddled with debt when they bought ReplayTV. Then they developed the newer 4k and 5k units. So they probably never got a chance to recoup there R& D costs

D&M already has a viable product design, they just need to keep the software updated.

Lifetime?

[Good Sumerian]

Lifetime support has always meant the lifetime of the company. They got what they paid for; it was a gamble, and, unfortunately, they lost.

Hi-fi buys lo-fi

[southpolesammy]

Interesting....this is a paradigm shift for D&M, as they've typically invested their R&D on the high-end of the audiophile spectrum. I'm somewhat perplexed by what they hope to accomplish with buying a line of low-end audio devices...

Re:Hi-fi buys lo-fi

[Drakino]

I'm somewhat perplexed by what they hope to accomplish with buying a line of low-end audio devices...

SonicBlue fired all the low end audio people a while back, leaving the audio engineers in the UK (The empeg folks). They are very capable of delivering quality high end devices if so requested. I believe the empeg sound system came close to any high end ($1000 and up) in dash stereo unit for potential audio output quality.

Hopefully this means the empeg Mark 3 might see the light of day.

Lifetime Activation

[Christopher_G_Lewis]

INAL, but if D&M continues the ReplayTV "Name" (ie, they purchased the name, not just the products) then they should have to honor the agreement. If the company all of a sudden become "D & M R-TV", or even "ReplayTV+" then the current owners might be screwed. Hopefully, they'll honor the current agreement, or only charge a small "transfer" fee.

From the service agreement...
SonicBlue

REPLAYTV Digital Video Recorder

Activation and Service Agreement

This Agreement applies to your use of the ReplayTV Service and is a legally binding agreement between you, SONICblue Incorporated and its wholly owned subsidiary, ReplayTV Inc. (collectively "ReplayTV"). By clicking the button marked "I Agree" below or by otherwise communicating your acceptance to ReplayTV or by using the ReplayTV Service, you agree to all the terms and conditions in this Agreement. IMPORTANT NOTE: Your ReplayTV digital video recorder works only by activating and receiving the ReplayTV Service offered and provided by ReplayTV. If you do not agree with all the terms and conditions of this Agreement, you are not authorized to use the ReplayTV Service, and you may return the ReplayTV unit to ReplayTV or the authorized retailer from whom you purchased the product for a full refund within one (1) month of the original purchase date.

lifetime

[ih8apple]

I've been a replaytv user for 3+ years and considering how much effort it takes to support the subscriptions, I'm assuming they will honor the lifetime subscriptions to keep customers loyal.

I mean, how much effort could it take to download a bunch of schedules from tvguide or whoever, encrypt them into the proprietary replaytv format, and put them on an FTP site. For the broadband users, they're done. For dialup, they need a simple agreement with a national ISP to support a few thousand 5 minute calls every night.

Philips and Marantz

[Anonymous Coward]

Philips owns a significant part of Marantz, you know.

http://www.twice.com/index.asp?layout=story_stocks &articleid=CA66618

Re:Philips and Marantz

[Anonymous Coward]

"&M Holdings Inc. will establish a new head office in Sagamihara City, Japan, with Kabumoto as the new president and CEO of the company. Sakamoto will be installed as the new president and CEO of Denon, and Takashi Sato will serve as the new president and CEO of Marantz. All shares of Marantz and Denon will be transferred to D&M Holdings, making Denon and Marantz wholly owned subsidiaries. Marantz shareholders will receive one share of D&M Holdings per share of Marantz stock, and Denon shareholders will get 0.4416 shares for every share of Denon stock. Ownership by Marantz shareholders and Denon shareholders in D&M Holdings will be 30 percent and 70 percent respectively, which means Philips and Ripplewood will have stakes of 14.7 percent and 68.6 percent in the new company."

As of Apr02...