Rovi Corporation has signed an agreement to acquire Sonic Solutions in an all-stock deal worth around US$720 million, the company said on Wednesday.
Sonic offers software under the Roxio brand, including products for DVD and CD burning, video and music capture and multimedia streaming. It also offers RoxioNow, a platform for companies that want to offer consumers access to movies and TV programs through PCs, Blu-ray Disc players, mobile phones and HDTVs.
Earlier this year, it also acquired DivX, a video coding technology that has made its way into a plethora of different consumer electronics devices.
Rovi, formerly known as Macrovision Solutions, specializes in digital content protection — its technology is used on more than 9 billion DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. it also makes programming guides: Its TotalGuide programming guide has already been integrated with RoxioNow, and the combined company will continue to build on that, it said.
The acquisition is structured as an exchange offer for all of the outstanding shares of Sonic, which will to be followed by a merger, according to a statement. The deal is expected to close during the first quarter of 2011.