Zattoo, an online TV app that rebroadcasts channels from around the world, is selling a a quarter of itself to Swiss publisher Tamedia. The deal is structured by setting up a new Zattoo Switzerland division representing ops only in its Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it’s this of which Tamedia is buying 24.5 percent, though it will also support the spin-off with a loan.
Like news-focused counterpart Livestation, Zattoo is that much-needed thing – a single aggregator for broadcasters’ disparate, and sometimes absent, live TV streaming efforts. Users get a different channel line-up depending on their country, with all the main public service channels and others available in the UK amongst over 70 available worldwide. While that kind of unofficial aggregation often attracts lawsuits, Zattoo has so far avoided unwanted attention; in April it told us it exploits a loophole that allows UK public channels to be rebroadcast, it also has contracts with other channels. Zattoo claims over 800,000 users in Switzerland. Tamedia operates the national daily, weekly, business and freesheet newspapers, family magazines and three TV/radio operations. Release.