Boxee is a software application that allows users to watch streamed TV on their televisions.
The startup created a device with the company D-Link – the Boxee box – that connects to TVs displaying shows and movies, through partnerships with content distributors such as BBC, Love Film Netflix and Hulu.
Boxee is available in 20 countries where users can either buy the box for $200 or create their own, by downloading the software for free and installing it on their own computers.
The company was founded in 2007 by Avner Ronen and Idan Cohen and now it has three offices in New York, Tel Aviv and London with 28 employees worldwide.
The service runs on Windows, Apple and Linux, as well as on the Apple TV (through a third party application)
The Boxee Box faces competition from a variety of sources including Apple TV, Google TV and even devices such as Xbox and PS3. But it tries to top these by offering a wider variety of applications and content distributors. It also plays more formats than its competitors and has no membership fee.
Ultimately, content distributors like Netflix could also be considered competitors.