CastTV is an Internet video search

Video search engine

A video search engine is a web-based search engine which crawls the web for video content. Some video search engines parse externally hosted content while others allow content to be uploaded and hosted on their own servers. Some engines also allow users to search by video format type and by length...

 and aggregation

Video aggregator

A video aggregator is a website that collects and organizes online videos from other sources. Video aggregation is done for different purposes, and websites take different approaches to achieve their purpose....

 company based in San Francisco, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. It was founded in 2006 by Edwin Ong and Alex Vikati. Services include a video search engine and the licensing of video search technology to media companies.

CastTV's search index incorporates both popular and longtail content

The Long Tail

The Long Tail or long tail refers to the statistical property that a larger share of population rests within the tail of a probability distribution than observed under a 'normal' or Gaussian distribution...

, including TV shows , movies, celebrity, news, sports and viral videos. The company filters out expired videos, duplicate videos and video spam

Spam (electronic)

Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...

.

History

• Early 2006: CastTV is founded by husband and wife entrepreneurs, Edwin Ong and Alex Vikati.
• December 2006: CastTV secures its first customer: Gemstar - TV Guide.
• April 2007: CastTV raises a $3.1M Series A from Draper Fisher Jurvetson
  Draper Fisher Jurvetson
  Draper Fisher Jurvetson is a venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California with affiliate offices in more than 30 cities around the world and over $7 billion in capital commitments....
  
   and additional funding from investors including Ron Conway
  Ron Conway
  Ron Conway is an American angel investor, often described as one of the "super angels". Conway is recognized as a strong networker and is based in Silicon Valley.-Early career:...
  
   and Marc Andreesen. Advisors include Rajeev Motwani
  Rajeev Motwani
  Rajeev Motwani was a professor of Computer Science at Stanford University whose research focused on theoretical computer science. He was an early advisor and supporter of companies including Google and PayPal, and a special advisor to Sequoia Capital. He was a winner of the Gödel Prize in...
  
   and Timothy Chou.
• Currently: CastTV is in open beta.
• December 2010: Acquired by Tribune Company
  Tribune Company
  The Tribune Company is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with ten daily newspapers and commuter tabloids including Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida...
  
  .Tribune Media Buys Video Search Engine CastTV, by Leena Rao, TechCrunch, December 16, 2010.