Boxee planning payment mechanism

Over the top television provider Boxee is to add a Payment Platform to its software. The plan is to allow content owners to be able to package and price as they see fit, including pay-per-view and subscription options.

Writing on the Boxee Team Blog, founder Avner Ronen explained that although a fee would be charged, this would be lower than the 30% charged by many app stores. “This beginning to the Boxee business model ties our success as a business to the success of our partners,” he said. “The iTunes store has already shown us that people are willing to pay for content when it’s affordable and easy to access. Our goal is to equip the content providers that we’ve spoken with over the past year, both big and small, with a way to monetise their content above and beyond the advertising-only model.”

Ronen added the connected living room represented a major opportunity for major media companies and independent producers to create more engaging content while being paid for their works on another screen.

Boxee released its long awaited Beta version on schedule, January 7, but a version for Apple TV is still in the planning.