Cloud-Based TV Service Magine Secures Impressive New Financing Round

STOCKHOLM, July 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Cloud-based TV operator Magine (http://www.magine.com) announces today that it has secured a further round of financing that will enable the company to drive forward the expansion of their recently deployed OTT television delivery service.

Magine founders, Michael Werner, Mattias Hjelmstedt, Erik Wikstrom, Xavier Ritort and Hakan Tranvik have succeeded in raising an impressive $19 million through an agreement signed with a group of Swedish and international investors.

The agreement will mean that the international rollout of the platform will accelerate considerably. The first international launches will take place in the key TV markets of Germany and Spain, only a few months after the First Edition of Magine went live in Sweden.

On the strength of this fundraising round, Magine predicts that the service will be available to viewers in at least five further markets before the end of the year.

Commenting on the new financial support, Magine Chairman Michael Werner stated: « Magine is not just another TV platform, but a totally new way of accessing and consuming content. It is a subscription service that was devised to make viewers come back to watching TV and this is why broadcasters and content providers are very keen to adopt the service. Magine helps them create new forms of monetizing whilst respecting the current rights chain.  Our investors recognized immediately that the huge potential for content discovery and social interaction among viewers thus generating new revenue streams »

In Sweden Magine hosts some of the world's best known brands and channels such as Discovery, CNN International, BBC, Eurosport, National Geographic, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network as well as home national broadcasters SVT and TV4. The company is in advanced negotiations with a number of other major international media and entertainment groups and further announcements are expected later this month.

In April Magine was introduced to the international television and content community at MIPTV, host to one of Europe's biggest international entertainment industry gatherings. The service was hailed as the highlight of the event by media commentators, journalists and industry figures alike.

About Magine:

Magine is TV reinvented. It is not TV through a new device but a service that offers the ultimate freedom of watching live,  start over and catch-up television  from all channels and on all devices and at all time in line with existing rights agreements It delivers high speed, high-quality and DRM protected images via any available internet connection.

Magine is currently available on Apple devices and in Samsung smart TV's. More TV platforms and Android tablets are on the way.

Magine.  Television as it should be.

For further information please contact:

Michael Werner, Chairman - michael.werner@magine.com

Mattias Hjelmstedt, CEO - mattias.hjelmstedt@magine.com

Press enquiries: Laura Lemens Boy - laura.lemens-boy@magine.com