Vubiquity Buys Warner Bros.’s ‘DETE’

Vubiquity dipped into the M&A pool again Wednesday by announcing it is buying Digital End-To-End (DETE), a managed content technology service, from Warner Bros. Technical Operations.

Vubiquity said the deal, which includes all of DETE’s clients (including Warner Bros. itself), will enable it to expand its content services and distribution capabilities. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The agreement will also give Vubiquity exclusive distribution rights to Warner Bros.’ library of movies and television shows for “several years,” the company said.

Vubiquity said it will build on DETE’s current capabilities by combining it with its own AnyVU Cloud service for digital multiscreen video.

The DETE deal comes less than a month after Vubiquity added OTT expertise via the acquisition of Juice Worldwide, a Toronto-based encoding house that certifies content for digital delivery.

“Pairing DETE with VUBIQUITY’s AnyVU cloud-based service will save us and our clients significant time, effort and resources while providing expanded and improved digital distribution,” said Brendan Sullivan, EVP of technology for Vubiquity, in a statement.  “We are eager to incorporate the DETE technology into our current, cloud-based business with the ultimate goal of servicing our clients from beginning to end with speed, flexibility and security to generate quality results.”

Vubiquity and Warner Bros. already had a connection of sorts. Darcy Antonellis, who joined Vubiquity as CEO in January 2014, previously was president, technical operations and CTO at Warner Bros. Entertainment.