In recent months, streaming media app Plex has expanded its focus from offering tools to organize and stream your home media collection of photos, TV shows and movies, to more directly targeting cord cutters. Related to these efforts, the company has now made its first acquisition, with a deal to bring in the news video service Watchup to its platform.
Founded by a former journalist, Adriano Farano, Watchup got its start in 2012 as an iPad application that aimed to reimagine how a modern-day audience would watch the news.
As consumers shifted their attention away from linear television to streaming services like Netflix, they would sometimes lose access to their favorite news stations. Watchup aimed to address this problem, by aggregating content into a single app from 170 news sources, like CNN, Bloomberg, CBS Interactive, PBS, Vox, Euronews, Hearst Television, Fox News, WSJ, Sky News, Washington Post, Financial Times, Fusion and others, including local sources thanks to deals with broadcast affiliates.
It later expanded to other platforms beyond the iPad, including iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV, gaming consoles, and, around a year ago, Apple TV.
Watchup is interesting, too, because it lets users customize their newscasts to their own interests by selecting those topics they care about.
