15/06/2012

Tesco Buy Internet Radio Station We7

Internet radio station We7, co-founded by Peter Gabriel, has been bought by Tesco in a £10.8m deal bolstering its internet offer with movie and music streaming services.

Billed as like "having a personal DJ", the website lets listeners create a personalised radio station by picking the artists they want to listen to.

Last year the supermarket bought movie streaming service blinkbox.

Already one of the UK's largest retailers of CDs, digital director Mark George said: "This move will help us offer a greater choice for the growing number of customers who want to access music instantly on any device. We7 has a great team and a good technology platform from which we can launch a range of digital music services in the future."

Although free to use, like its rival Spotify, We7 makes money from advertising. Listeners can choose from a library of 11m songs.

Tesco said it had bought a 91% stake and would buy the remaining shares in the coming weeks. The major supermarkets are looking to cash in on the digital entertainment market with rival Sainsbury's snapping up a 64% stake in online digital book retailer Anobii earlier this week

(H)


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