• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, January 14, 2013

The startups behind social TV apps Viggle and GetGlue have terminated their planned merger. Viggle, a TV rewards site that automatically identifies shows people are viewing, announced in November it would acquire TV guide and check-in app GetGlue for $25 million and 48.3 million shares. Both sides said the split was amicable.

“During the time we started talking to GetGlue about an acquisition and since the merger agreement was signed in November, we have seen impressive growth in our business," Viggle CEO Robert F.X. Sillerman said in a statement on Monday. "We wish GetGlue and [founder] Alex [Iskold] all the best."

In a blog post, Iskold said GetGlue was “moving forward as an independent company.” GetGlue will receive a small break-up fee of $500,000 as a result of the deal being called off. CNet speculated that money problems at Viggle may have led to the deal’s collapse.

The company said in November it was raising up to $60 million in convertible debt to finance the GetGlue purchase, but that doesn’t appear to have happened. Instead, Viggle’s board approved an increase to its line of credit to $20 million from $15 million, according to documents filed with SEC.