Twitter Has Acquired Live-Video Startup Periscope

Twitter has acquired Periscope, a startup that lets users stream live video from their phone, according to a person familiar with the deal.

Periscope is still in beta, according to its website. That didn’t spook Twitter; the deal has been completed for a few weeks, according to Business Insider, which first reported the news.

Word of Twitter’s interest in Periscope was reported last week by TechCrunch. It came alongside the rise of Meerkat, another live-streaming app that took off, thanks in part to a boost from app discovery site Product Hunt.

Twitter has made a big push into video over the past few months, launching its first consumer video feature at the end of January.

The Periscope acquisition will likely offer a different use case. While Twitter video or the company’s six-second video platform Vine are good for sharing video stored or captured on the phone, they aren’t helpful for sharing anything live.

Given Twitter’s ability to complement breaking news events like the Ferguson, Mo., protests, you could envision a situation in which live streaming video alongside other breaking news tweets might be helpful.

Meerkat is already working in this way. A number of journalists and attendees at the Apple Watch event on Monday streamed the event through Meerkat.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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