Pluto TV is an Internet-based TV platform operated by Pluto Inc. The company was founded in 2013 and is based in Los Angeles, California. TechHive, a home technology review site, referred to Pluto TV as the best cord-cutting application. Pluto TV runs as an app on AppleTV, Android TV, and Roku, and PlayStation consoles. The company currently has around 75 content partners. The company also as of October, 2016 has around 5 million monthly active users up from 500,000 in early 2015. Pluto TV generates revenue from video advertisements between programming, and has a goal to continue to stay as free television.
History
In 2014, Pluto TV raised $13 million in Series A funding.
In July 2015, Pluto TV signed a deal with Hulu to distribute Hulu's free video content. In October 2015, they added 20 additional channels, bringing the total number of additional channels to above 100. On May 15, 2016, Pluto TV signed a deal with Sony to launch the Pluto TV app on the PlayStation Store for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. The content on Pluto TV is licensed directly from the content providers, which makes it less likely to be subject to copyright infringement lawsuits like the one which caused the shutdown of the earlier over-the-top TV service Aereo.
In 2016, the company raised $30 million in Series B venture capital funding, which would value the company at $140 million, with a new source of this funding coming from the German company ProSieben as well as funding from the Sky telecommunications company. Pluto Inc. has aimed increase company focus on tv programming and channel development by adding a chief programming officer role in April, 2017.
References
Official websites
- Official website
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