Vessel: Verizon buys Vessel, promptly shuts the YouTube rival down

Video site Vessel is shutting down less than two years after the service became publicly available. The company, headed by former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar, was acquired by Verizon for an undisclosed sum. As a result, Vessel will shut down at the end of October, the company announced in a blog post.Subscribers who paid $3 a month to get the site ad free will receive a refund for the month of October. iTunes subscribers will have to contact Apple to get the refund.Verizon plans to merge Vessel into its own digital offerings, and Vessel's chief technology officer Richard Tom will stay on to head Verizon's digital entertainment business, according to Recode. Kilar will stay on until the end of the year to "ensure a smooth transition."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here