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Verizon acquires, shutters Kilar’s Vessel

US telecoms giant Verizon has acquired former Hulu boss Jason Kilar’s subscription VoD start-up Vessel and will shut it down next week.

Jason Kilar

Jason Kilar

The streamer, which launched 18 months ago, charges US$2.99 per month for users to watch exclusive content from YouTube creators.

Kilar issued a joint statement with Vessel co-founder and chief technology officer Richard Tom on the company’s website yesterday explaining the takeover.

“At the heart of this transaction is the Vessel technology, product and team that we have built. These three things will be married with Verizon’s ambitions in online video,” said Kilar.

“Though the team and the actual tech and product will live on at Verizon in ways that will become apparent in the months and years ahead, sadly we will be sunsetting the Vessel service at the end of this month.”

Kilar will help transition the company over to Verizon for the remainder of 2016 before leaving, while Tom will oversee technology at the telecom giant’s entertainment arm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

  

 

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