D&M Holdings Sells ReplayTV DVR Unit to DirecTV

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 13, 2007 - 9:30am.

Tokyo - D&M Holdings, the Japan-based consumer electronics firm whose brands include Denon, Marantz and Boston Acoustics, announced on Thursday that it has sold most of the assets of its ReplayTV digital video recorder business to DirecTV Group (NASD: DTV). Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

ReplayTV was founded in 1997, and acquired by SONICblue in 2001. That company was sued for copyright infringement by the networks, over the ReplayTV device's ability to automatically skip through commercials.

When SONICblue declared bankruptcy in 2003, the majority of its assets were acquired by D&M Holdings.

The last ReplayTV devices were sold in 2005, before the company shifted its focus to selling PC digital video recorder software.

"Although we valued this asset and the business was profitable, the sale of ReplayTV to DirecTV makes the most sense for this business, its employees and us," said Eric C. Evans, chairman and CEO of D&M Holdings.

"We believe this transaction is a positive development for ReplayTV and this sale allows D&M to further direct our focus on building our brands and executing our growth and acquisition strategies."

D&M Holdings will remain the operator of the existing service contracts for current ReplayTV subscribers for the foreseeable future, while DirecTV will assume most of the other assets of the brand company.