Broadcast services company Red Bee Media (whose CEO, Bill Patrizio, is pictured here) has partnered with Cisco, 247 Real Media and Akamai to launch white label online video platform RedPlayer, writes Adrian Pennington.
The technology is intended to permit broadcasters and content owners to deliver and monetise video to multiple devices – including iPhone, iPad and Playstation – and could be a platform to which existing broadcaster players such as ITV Player and 4OD upgrade.
“It completes what is arguably the missing piece for Red Bee and something that would have become more of an omission going forward,” explains Steve Plunkett, Red Bee director of technology and innovation. “What we haven’t done to date is had a direct role in consumer facing services. We ingest, transcode, manage and secure content but the front end piece is new. We’ve spent 15 months looking at how to credibly enter the market and the result is RedPlayer.
“Broadcasters want to make available catch-up content immediately after transmission,” he continues. “We aim to do that as well as allowing pause and rewind of live content. What also excites broadcasters is the use of the EPG as a form of navigation on an online platform mixing catch-up, catalogue, archive with live linear and future scheduling in a way that is familiar to users, plus content recommendations – and across connected TVs and all multiple devices.”
First customer announcements are expected in the next few weeks. UK broadcast VOD services such as BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4OD, Demand Five and the Virgin Media Player, which are already back-end managed by Red Bee Media, are prime candidates to switch.
“These players have been deployed for 2-3 years and devised as PC-centric catch-up models and some way from a genuine multi-device service capable of delivering live and catch-up and catalogue,” said Plunkett. “I think many of those broadcasters will be reviewing their platforms.
“Brands, rights holders, production companies and studios are competing directly with traditional broadcasters through the open market of the internet,” he says. “Slow, unreliable video platforms are no longer good enough, especially when customers are paying for content.”
WPP’s division 247 Real Media will host and serve ads, provide targeting advertising and also act as the ad-sales house. Using Cisco’s Videoscape Media technology RedPlayer will enable businesses to offer subscription, download to own, integrated micro-payments, rental and capped or uncapped library access. Akamai provides the content delivery network if required.
The player builds on the infrastructure that Red Bee Media already offers, including high capacity file delivery through ‘Media Gateway’ and multi-format tape and disk ingest facilities. These assets have both large storage needs and rapid transcoding to deliver formatted video to multiple end devices.
For analytics and reporting RedPlayer tracks data relating to content usage and provides a range of reporting tools to allow broadcasters to better understand their audience.
According to Bill Patrizio, CEO, Red Bee Media: “The online video market has rapidly evolved, driven by consumer demand for higher quality and a greater variety of content made available across multiple platforms. As a result businesses need to deliver a better experience with intuitive search and recommendation tools through a better user interface. With critical mass has come the first real opportunity to profit from video online which has heralded flexible and simple payment models delivered by RedPlayer.”
www.redbeemedia.com
Broadcast services company Red Bee Media (whose CEO, Bill Patrizio, is pictured here) has partnered with Cisco, 247 Real Media and Akamai to launch white label online video platform RedPlayer, writes Adrian Pennington.
The technology is intended to permit broadcasters and content owners to deliver and monetise video to multiple devices – including iPhone, iPad and Playstation – and could be a platform to which existing broadcaster players such as ITV Player and 4OD upgrade.
“It completes what is arguably the missing piece for Red Bee and something that would have become more of an omission going forward,” explains Steve Plunkett, Red Bee director of technology and innovation. “What we haven’t done to date is had a direct role in consumer facing services. We ingest, transcode, manage and secure content but the front end piece is new. We’ve spent 15 months looking at how to credibly enter the market and the result is RedPlayer.
“Broadcasters want to make available catch-up content immediately after transmission,” he continues. “We aim to do that as well as allowing pause and rewind of live content. What also excites broadcasters is the use of the EPG as a form of navigation on an online platform mixing catch-up, catalogue, archive with live linear and future scheduling in a way that is familiar to users, plus content recommendations – and across connected TVs and all multiple devices.”
First customer announcements are expected in the next few weeks. UK broadcast VOD services such as BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4OD, Demand Five and the Virgin Media Player, which are already back-end managed by Red Bee Media, are prime candidates to switch.
“These players have been deployed for 2-3 years and devised as PC-centric catch-up models and some way from a genuine multi-device service capable of delivering live and catch-up and catalogue,” said Plunkett. “I think many of those broadcasters will be reviewing their platforms.
“Brands, rights holders, production companies and studios are competing directly with traditional broadcasters through the open market of the internet,” he says. “Slow, unreliable video platforms are no longer good enough, especially when customers are paying for content.”
WPP’s division 247 Real Media will host and serve ads, provide targeting advertising and also act as the ad-sales house. Using Cisco’s Videoscape Media technology RedPlayer will enable businesses to offer subscription, download to own, integrated micro-payments, rental and capped or uncapped library access. Akamai provides the content delivery network if required.
The player builds on the infrastructure that Red Bee Media already offers, including high capacity file delivery through ‘Media Gateway’ and multi-format tape and disk ingest facilities. These assets have both large storage needs and rapid transcoding to deliver formatted video to multiple end devices.
For analytics and reporting RedPlayer tracks data relating to content usage and provides a range of reporting tools to allow broadcasters to better understand their audience.
According to Bill Patrizio, CEO, Red Bee Media: “The online video market has rapidly evolved, driven by consumer demand for higher quality and a greater variety of content made available across multiple platforms. As a result businesses need to deliver a better experience with intuitive search and recommendation tools through a better user interface. With critical mass has come the first real opportunity to profit from video online which has heralded flexible and simple payment models delivered by RedPlayer.”
