TiVo founders’ Qplay service to shut down

Qplay, the internet video firm set up by TiVo founders Michael Ramsay and James Barton, is due to close this week – just five months after launching.

Announcing the move on the company’s official blog, Qplay said that it is “with heavy hearts” that the company will close, effective July 25.

“We truly enjoyed bringing you the best videos from around the Internet. We had fun building and using Qplay and hope that you did too. Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to keep developing and running the service,” said Qplay.

The company said that any customers that have bought a Qplay adapter can request a refund. “All TV Adapters will stop functioning when the service shuts down, so please responsibly recycle your TV adapter,” it added.

Qplay launched its cloud TV initiative in the US at the end of February this year, in an apparent effort to compete with existing internet streaming devices such as ChromeCast and Apple TV.

QPlay consisted of a mobile application that ran on an iPad, a TV adapter that allowed users to stream video direct from the web, and a cloud service that managed the experience.

The QPlay TV adapter, which connected to the TV via an HDMI cable and to the internet via an 802.11b/g/n WiFi adapter, initially retailed in the US for US$49 (€36) as part of a promotional offer.