Napster founder Sean Parker has hired a new CEO and raised more than $27 million.
Sean Parker’s controversial video-on-demand startup Screening Room, which roiled the film industry four years ago when it first emerged, is staging a comeback amid widespread disruption in Hollywood due to the coronavirus outbreak., which was proposed as a service that would charge users $50 to watch movies at home while the films are still in theaters. The service never launched and eventually faded from view.
On Monday, the nascent company rebranded as SR Labs, named a new chief executive and announced $27.5 million in new capital. Man Jit Singh, former president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, will lead the company as CEO, while previous chief Prem Akkaraju will assume the role of executive chairman, SR Labs said. Akkaraju and Parker cofounded the Screening Room.
Details about the company’s plans are vague. Originally, Screening Room attracted interest from directors including Peter Jackson and Ron Howard, and industry leaders such as AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron, for its plan to share video-on-demand revenue with exhibitors. Users would stream the films from a secure set-top box attached to their TVs.The idea angered many theater owners, who saw it as a threat to their traditional business model.
However, the company’s business model has shifted. Descriptions in the firm’s news release called SR Labs a “developer of next-generation software and hardware technology for secure video delivery.” The company will provide its technology platform to studios and exhibitors, who will decide how they want movies released.
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