Fandango Gets Into the Streaming Business With Acquisition of M-GO

The on-demand service was founded as a joint venture of DreamWorks Animation and Technicolor.

Fandango, the ticket-selling website owned by NBCUniversal, said Friday it has acquired M-GO, a provider of movies and TV shows for streaming that was founded as a joint venture between DreamWorks Animation and Technicolor.

Fandango said it will incorporate M-GO into its "super ticket" strategy, whereby moviegoers pay extra for perks. In one past promotion, for example, someone purchasing a ticket to see The Divergent Series: Insurgent at a theater also got a digital download of the original Divergent.

In the past, Fandango would issue a promo code for redeeming a digital copy at a third party like Vudu, though now Fandango will be able to offer a similar product via its own M-GO, which will eventually be rebranded to reflect Fandango's ownership.

Financial terms of the acquisition weren't disclosed. M-GO is based in Culver City but over time will move to Fandango's facilities in West Los Angeles.

Because of the purchase and subsequent reorganizing, a small number of employees at M-GO lost their jobs and some were hired at Fandango.

For now, users of M-GO likely won't notice any changes, as they'll still purchase and rent movies on-demand as before. On Friday, for example, an HD version of the Jack Black movie Goosebumps rented for $5.99 and sold for $17.99.

"With the addition of M-GO, we'll be able to accelerate the ticketing momentum achieved in a record-breaking 2015 by creating compelling new digital products that serve consumers throughout the movie lifecycle," Fandango president Paul Yanover said in a statement.

Fandango experienced 81 percent growth in ticketing dollars in 2015 over the previous year and added 1,600 new screens, bringing the total number of U.S. screens it services to more than 27,000.

Fandango said that, along with the acquisition, "Universal Filmed Entertainment Group and Technicolor will work together to explore opportunities to collaborate on next-generation video technologies."

Email: Paul.Bond@THR.com