ChinaVision Media Group Limited (HK: 01060) announced yesterday that Alibaba Investment Ltd, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, would buy 59.32% interest in it for HKD 6.244 billion (USD804 million).
Products and services by ChinaVision Media range from newspapers, movies, mobile content and services, TV program promotion, artist management, among others. The company directly invests in movies as well as licensing content from third-party content providers.
Alibaba has been building Aliyun OS, an Android-based operating system for smartphones and smart TV. The e-commerce giant wants smartphone makers and TV manufacturers to adopt the system. But Aliyun isn’t regarded as a well-done system and doesn’t have edge over other systems — shopping on TV doesn’t sound attractive enough for users to buy an Aliyun TV. Other similar players either own digital content sites or have partners. Xiaomi, who is also developing custom Android system and making smart devices, has reportedly invested in Xunlei, a video steaming and download service. The contents ChinaVision owns may make products with Aliyun embedded more attractive to users.
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