Skype co-founder to launch Netflix rival Vdio

Hot on the heels of Skype’s sale to Microsoft, the company’s co-founder Janus Friis is already busy prepping his next project – a subscription-based streaming video service called Vdio (it’s pronounced vee-dee-o, in case you were wondering).

Vdio is likely to replicate the subscription model of Friis’ streaming music service Rdio, and is currently in a closed beta. It’ll be launching in the UK first – visitors to the holding page are invited to log in with Facebook, and while UK users are told it’s “coming soon,” users from elsewhere are told that the service is “currently available in the UK only.”

The market for streaming video is pretty crowded, with services such as Lovefilm offering a similar subs-based model. Vdio looks like it’s going to hit the ground running, though, teasing films and TV shows from Warner Bros, AMC, Showtime, Sony and Fox – including The Dark Knight, Breaking Bad and Mad Men. We’ll be watching with interest.

[Source: GigaOm]

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Tom Wiggins Contributor

About

Stuff's other Tom has been writing for the magazine and website since 2006, when smartphones were only for massive nerds and you could say “Alexa” out loud without a robot answering. Over the years he’s written about everything from MP3s to NFTs, played FIFA with Trent Alexander-Arnold, and amassed a really quite impressive collection of USB sticks.

Areas of expertise

Gaming (OK, mainly just FIFA), weird Alexa skills, USB sticks