It was a simple idea: create a device that enabled premium and ad-supported online video content to be shuttled from a PC to TV, without the need for a home network. That was the promise of SanDisk’s TakeTV device and accompanying video download service Fanfare, which, reports NewTeeVee, was shut down on May 15th.
The official party line is that TakeTV was no longer a priority for SanDisk as the company focuses on being at the hub of mobile entertainment. Translation: No one bought the device. It’s easy to understand why; SanDisk was outgunned and outnumbered on this set-top bet.
NewTeeVee’s Chris Albrecht offers up a number of reasons why Sandisk’s offering didn’t resonate with consumers, namely that the overall solution was kludgey: “You had to plug a USB device into your PC, download content, then put that USB device into another device that hooked up to your TV”. There was also a lack of compelling content available through Fanfare, and the service faced huge competition from Apple, Sony, Microsoft, TiVo etc., not to mention various IPTV offerings from incumbent Telcos.
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