Media streaming platform Plex has announced it has acquired news aggregation and streaming service Watchup.
Plex software is already well-known for being an easy way to turn your personal computer or NAS into a media server that enables access to all your films, photos and music, from a range of devices via a slick user interface.
But it looks like, following the launch of Plex DVR last year, the company is trying to branch out and offer its users something different with its latest acquisition.
Watchup gathers content from local, national, and international news sources to generate a personalized feed.
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The company already has a range of publisher partners, including CBS, CNN, Vox, Euronews, and Hearst Television, as well as publishers that have invested directly in the company, such as Tribune Media, McClatchy, and Turner Broadcasting.
Keith Valory, CEO of Plex, said: “People have to navigate a ridiculous number of interfaces and apps to get to their favourite content.
“Our mission at Plex has always been to provide our users with one simple and personalized window into all of their media, accessible from any device.
“Adding a trusted and reliable news experience into Plex, so that people can choose and organize the news they care about along with the other content they care about, is a natural next step for us.”
Watchup as it appears on tablets
The news comes after Plex launched its new cloud service, Plex Cloud, in September, which finally removed the need to have an always-on PC or NAS drive to store users’ media.
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The cloud service offers online storage for Plex users and their files, allowing them to access the media from pretty much any device, wherever they are.
Now, with the acquisition of Watchup, the company looks to be building on the release of Plex DVR last year, which allowed users to record and stream programmes from virtually anywhere in the world to almost any device.
Adriano Farano, founder and CEO of Watchup, said: “As a former journalist turned Knight journalism fellow at Stanford University, I started Watchup to bring the power of video journalism to over-the-top streaming devices so citizens can become better informed.
“By joining Plex, we are accelerating the pace of this transition in partnership with many of the most trusted news organizations.
“Together with the unparalleled streaming device footprint of Plex, we can reinvent the video news experience for today’s news viewers.”
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Let us know what you think of Plex’s latest move in the comments.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
