The Financial Times has news Cisco and AT&T are putting $15.5 Million behind Internet video company Akimbo. The investment underscores the big shift among big media firms toward online services, and video in particular.

Blueprint Ventures, a VC group that was involved in the deal, said Akimbo offers "an excellent" video channel--one that is "way out in front in terms of technology." Having a solid technology is definitely one thing, but distribution--especially since media firms still dominate mass media consumption and are looking for distribution online--is the other great piece of the puzzle for many Web video firms.

Akimbo has deals with Major League Baseball, Arts & Entertainment TV, The History Channel, and the BBC. It has cross-platform distribution on Microsoft's Media Center PC and other devices from Thomson--and now, AT&T.

I think that the AT&T angle is fairly obvious: they must compete against Comcast and Time Warner for supplying video to the home and Akimbo is one platform that could give them a leg up if developed correctly.

The Cisco angle interests (puzzles?) me more. You may recall that Cisco recently acquired set-top box maker Scientific Atlanta, which is also looking to boost its digital home offerings. Might they find Akimbo is a shortcut to some larger business offering?

Cisco said it decided to invest in Akimbo because it believes companies that can deliver content on any device through an Internet connection represent the future of media consumption. "The more of that kind of content that flows over networks, the better it is for Cisco," a Cisco rep said.