Ann Arbor-based Zattoo grows from 5 to 22, hiring up to 17 more

TV on the Radio? Old and busted.

TV on your PC or Mac? New hotness.

Zattoo is a Ann Arbor start-up based on technology that allows live video to be streamed to lots of computers at the same time.

Sound familiar? Kinda like how programs are broadcast to lots of televisions at the same time, right?

“It’s the right time to do this, to reach the younger generation, who use computers as their main mode of communication” says founder Sugih Jamin. “It’s one way we can reconnect TV media to this younger generation.”

The company make arrangements with content-providers to legally rebroadcast programs. This has proved more difficult in the United States than in Europe, so Zattoo is focusing there for now. They have agreements with five countries — Switzerland, Denmark, Spain, Germany and Belgium — and just hit one million registered users. Downloading Zattoo is free, as the company pays for content through advertising sales.

Jamin — who teaches computer science at the University of Michigan — and two partners founded the company in 2005 based on technology developed over five years by PhD students. Along with three additional employees, they hit the ground running.

Now there are 20 developers in Ann Arbor, with plans to hire 10 more in the next year. As for business development, there are two on the Ann Arbor team and 15 in the Zurich office. Jasmin anticipates growing the business side of Ann Arbor operations by five to seven in the next year as the company begins to take on American networks.

You can read about Zattoo on the company’s entertaining blog.

Source: Sugih Jamin, Zattoo
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN METROMODE