Written by Chris Albrecht
Posted Friday, June 6, 2008 at 1:32 PM PT

 

R.I.P. SanDisk’s TakeTV, Fanfare Shut Down

TakeTV, we hardly knew ye. Unveiled just last October, SanDisk’s USB PC-to-TV video device along with Fanfare, its accompanying content portal, were both shut down on May 15th, a SanDisk spokesperson has confirmed.

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.

Though Om liked it, and SanDisk billed the device as an easy way to transport content from the web to your TV, it had two things going against it:

1.) It 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. Yeah, that’s easy.

2.) Lack of content. If you want people to buy a device that downloads TV content, you’d better offer lots of TV content. TakeTV’s Fanfare portal had deals with CBS, Jaman, Showtime, the Smithsonian, The Weather Channel and TV Guide Broadband. No ABC, no FOX — not even The CW. TakeTV had announced a deal with NBC, but it looks as though that never got implemented.

Not to mention the fact that SanDisk was facing heavy competition from better-known companies like Apple, TiVo and Xbox — all of which provided more content and an easier solution for downloading shows to your TV.

TakeTV’s demise is a good lesson all around. For consumers, don’t be fooled by a company’s promise of what’s to come — especially for first-generation products. If it doesn’t have the content you want, don’t buy it (even Apple TV flunked at first). And Silicon Valley — quit making set-top boxes! With services like tru2way on the way and with Internet connections built right into TVs, you’re going to lose a lot of money as cable companies and consumer electronics companies eat your lunch.

TakeTV’s site is still up, but Fanfare has been shut down. The devices will still work, their owners just have to find video files elsewhere.

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Comments & Trackbacks

  1. Hey, Chris! Cool site. Congratulations on the move from Atom Films.

    Speaking of Atom Films, are we (my film crew) blacklisted from that site due to the legal problems created by the “contract musician” we used on sith’d? I never really understood what that was all about since my actual crew had nothing to do with the suit (but as soon as I caught wind of it, I put a stop to it).

    Take care.

    -Brian

    P.S. Feel free to reply to my gmail address.

    brian silva on June 6th, 2008 at 2:56 pm - Permalink

  2. [...] enough units to fill a briefcase. Anybody out there have any fond memory’s of TakeTV’s short stint?Read | Permalink | Email [...]

    Latesht .com » SanDisk kills TakeTV dead on June 6th, 2008 at 5:15 pm - Permalink

  3. [...] enough units to fill a briefcase. Anybody out there have any fond memory’s of TakeTV’s short stint?Read | Permalink | Email [...]

    SanDisk kills TakeTV dead | Technology Update News on June 6th, 2008 at 5:16 pm - Permalink

  4. [...] enough units to fill a briefcase. Anybody out there have any fond memory’s of TakeTV’s short stint?Read | Permalink | Email [...]

    ZEITGEIST / SanDisk kills TakeTV dead on June 6th, 2008 at 5:17 pm - Permalink

  5. [...] enough units to fill a briefcase. Anybody out there have any fond memory’s of TakeTV’s short stint?Read | Permalink | Email [...]

    SanDisk kills TakeTV dead : www.techtidbits.org on June 6th, 2008 at 5:22 pm - Permalink

  6. [...] killed TakeTV and its related content portal Fanfare May 15 according to NewTeeVee, and no one [...]

    SanDisk Kills TakeTV, Nobody Notices on June 6th, 2008 at 6:26 pm - Permalink

  7. [...] you can then plug into any TV? Apparently the idea never caught on, because NewTeeVee reports that SanDisk shut down the Fanfare video portal on May 15th. And as far as I can tell, it took a few weeks before anyone really [...]

    Windows Home Theater » Blog Archive » SanDisk pulls the plug on TakeTV, FanFare video service on June 6th, 2008 at 8:00 pm - Permalink

  8. [...] a thing into your computer, dragged over movies, and then schlepped them to your TV — is dead along with its content site, [...]

    CrunchGear » Archive » TakeTV, she is dead on June 7th, 2008 at 1:14 am - Permalink

  9. [...] 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 kills off TakeTV and Fanfare | last100 on June 7th, 2008 at 8:26 am - Permalink

  10. TakeTV only plays back SD files. Was doomed to fail.

    Dave Zatz on June 7th, 2008 at 9:48 am - Permalink

  11. [...] to fill a briefcase. Anybody out there have any fond memory’s of TakeTV’s short stint?Read | Permalink | Email [...]

    SanDisk kills TakeTV dead | NewsMeToday on June 8th, 2008 at 12:51 am - Permalink

  12. [...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]

    News Juicer » Blog Archive » SanDisk kills TakeTV dead on June 8th, 2008 at 4:45 pm - Permalink

  13. [...] — An effort to break into the set-top box market, competing with the Apple TV, has been abandoned a mere half year after its start by memory maker SanDisk. The low-cost TakeTV was supposed to appeal to the lower-end market, but [...]

    Roundup: Supreme Court’s new patent ruling, gas prices at record, multiple services give up the ghost, and more » VentureBeat on June 9th, 2008 at 2:48 pm - Permalink

  14. [...] problem was simple – customers were just not buying into the concept and in fact the Fanfare shutdown on May 15th was not noticed until June 6: … had two things going against [...]

    SanDisk cancels TakeTV and Fanfare | Cool Tech Reviews on June 9th, 2008 at 3:11 pm - Permalink

  15. [...] folks. During his reading rundown, Zachary checks out an article we did last month about Sandisk killing off its TakeTV [...]

    Thanks for Reading, Zachary! « NewTeeVee on July 28th, 2008 at 12:00 am - Permalink

  16. [...] enough units to fill a briefcase. Anybody out there have any fond memory’s of TakeTV’s short stint?Read | Permalink | Email [...]

    SanDisk kills TakeTV dead | My Best Blogroll on August 3rd, 2008 at 12:44 pm - Permalink

  17. [...] then shut it down. Similarly, they promoted TakeTV (I loved it), a USB PC-to-TV video device and had to shut it down because there weren’t many buyers. Why do I feel that SlotMusic is going down that [...]

    SanDisk SlotMusic Cards Are Destined to Fail - GigaOM on September 21st, 2008 at 11:26 pm - Permalink

  18. [...] calling them SlotMusic. This is the firm’s latest attempt to broaden its market since the failure of TakeTV; Silicon Valley Insider thinks it’s not a bad [...]

    Roundup: IT budgets dying on the vine, Chrysler’s electric cars, Google Knol shortcomings, and more » VentureBeat on September 22nd, 2008 at 11:37 pm - Permalink

  19. [...] all that well. It helped power SanDisk’s TakeTV and Fanfare PC-to-TV content service, which shut down just eight months after launch. It was also behind last year’s problematic release of NBC [...]

    ExtendMedia Raises $10M for Video Platforms « NewTeeVee on December 2nd, 2008 at 8:58 am - Permalink

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