Vdio Inc. was an internet television service created by

Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...

and

Rdio Rdio (pronounced "r-dee-oh") was an online music streaming service that offered ad-supported free streaming and ad-free subscription streaming services in 85 countries. It was available as a website and via app for Android, BlackBerry, iOS, an ...

co-founder

Janus Friis Janus Friis (; born 26 June 1976) is a Danish entrepreneur best known for co-founding the file-sharing application Kazaa, and the peer-to-peer telephony application Skype. In September 2005, he and his business partner Niklas Zennström sol ...

in 2011. On April 2, 2013, Vdio was officially launched for

premium subscribers. Vdio's platform for sharing content was a pay-per-view system compared to Rdio's unlimited streaming. Similar to the main players in the video streaming market,

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

and

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

, Vdio offered a varied catalog that ranges from cult classic titles to new releases from major studios. From April 2013, the service was available in the United States and the United Kingdom (though it has now been discontinued). Current Rdio subscribers were given US$25 in credit to spend on Vdio. On August 6, 2013, they relaunched the Vdio service in Canada check at Blog Rdio Canada. Later, it became available to the United States, United Kingdom and Canada until the video service was ultimately suspended in all 3 countries. After closing, Vdio's url re-directed to the main Rdio website. Several of Friis' other companies, including the video-focused startup

Joost Joost () was an Internet TV service, created by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis (founders of Skype and Kazaa). During 2007–2008 Joost used peer-to-peer TV ( P2PTV) technology to distribute content to their Mozilla-based desktop player; i ...

, used peer-to-peer technology to achieve lower cost content delivery. On December 27, 2013, Vdio announced over email that it was discontinuing its beta program, citing that it was not able to provide the "differentiated customer experience we had hoped for". They also posted a short document for existing customers.

References

External links

* Rdio Online mass media companies of the United States Defunct video on demand services Internet properties established in 2013 Internet properties disestablished in 2013 {{Web-stub