Blinkx.tv Licenses Video Search Engine to Microsoft

Blinkx.tv on Monday said it has licensed its video-search engine to Microsoft Corp. for use in some MSN Web properties and Live.com sites. Financial details were not disclosed.

San Francisco-based Blinkx.tv uses voice recognition software to search online audio and video. The privately held San Francisco company was founded in early 2004.

The Microsoft agreement was a straight licensing deal, and did not include any sharing of ad revenue, a spokeswoman said.

Blinkx claims its technology for searching multimedia files delivers more accurate results than major Web portals, such as Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), MSN and Google Inc.

The company focuses heavily on TV video, and offers content through partnerships with providers, such as CNN and Fox News. In order to gain access to content not available for free, Blinkx, like other video search engines, has to negotiate agreements with the copyright holders.

// October 10th, 2006