SeaChange International

SeaChange International is a multinational company headquartered in Acton, Massachusetts that provides multi-screen video products and services that facilitate the aggregation, licensing, management, and distribution of video programs and television advertisements to cable system operators, telecommunications companies, mobile communications providers and media companies worldwide. SeaChange was founded in January 1993 by Bill Styslinger. At a time when U.S. cable operators needed rooms full of VCRs, each loaded with a tape with a single ad in order to carry out live linear ad replacement, SeaChange brought about a sea change (hence the company name) by introducing digital video servers that could contain and stream thousands of ads and were far more compact. In 1996, the company became listed at NASDAQ. In April 2005, SeaChange bought the international assets of Liberate Technologies. In September 2005, SeaChange acquired UK-based On-Demand Group (ODG). In November 2008, SeaChange acquired Mobix Interactive, also from the UK. In September 2009, SeaChange bought eventIS, based in the Netherlands. In January 2010, SeaChange acquired Silicon Valley start-up VividLogic. In June 2012, SeaChange obtained the assets of Flashlight Engineering and Consulting. As part of a strategy to become a "pure-play software provider” SeaChange did two divestitures: In May 2012, it sold ODG to Avail-TVN and its server hardware business spun out to XOR Media that same month. In a move that bears the hallmark of the recently appointed CEO Jay Samit, SeaChange announced in December 2014 it will acquire Timeline Labs, a start-up that makes tools for broadcasters and video service providers for audience measurement via social media.