The announcement will be made in about two weeks, just before the big National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas. Consolidation was inevitable in the online video market; I wonder if other mergers will surface around the NAB show.

The buyer's identity hasn't been disclosed yet, but Businessofvideo.com said it was a New York-based desktop video company when it first reported Tuesday night that a sale was close.

Grid will continue to have a significant presence in Seattle, according to my source. It recently had employed close to 30 people.

Grid developed a heavy duty network for broadcasting high-definition online video content to televisions that are connected directly to the Web or via devices such as Microsoft's Xbox 360 or Sony's PlayStation 3. Its GridCast TV service launched in November.

The company was founded in 2005 by former RealNetworks broadcast general manager Jeff Payne. Payne's now the chief technology officer and Tony Naughtin, a co-founder of InterNap, is chief executive.

In late 2007, the company received $9.5 million from investors Panorama Capital, Cisco and Comcast.

Naughtin told me last fall that Grid would probably seek more funding in mid- to late 2009, but apparently it's taking a different path.