OTT services provider Simplestream has secured substantial funding from Beringea, to accelerate the expansion of TVPlayer, Simplestream’s B2C live TV streaming service, and facilitate the addition of more channel packs and multi-channel catch-up functionality.
TVPlayer is a live TV aggregator of more than 45 free-to-air channels. In addition to streaming channels from public service broadcasters including BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and FIVE, TVPlayer has agreements to stream content from a growing number of Freeview and Freesat channels, including 4Music, Heart, Travel Channel, FashionTV, Al Jazeera and Euronews.
“The success of TVPlayer to date demonstrates there is significant demand for a multi-device aggregator of live TV in the UK market,” commented Rob Hodgkinson, investment manager at Beringea, who will join the Simplestream board. “We are delighted to support the continued development of Simplestream and TVPlayer.”
Adam Smith, founder and CEO of Simplestream, added: “With Beringea’s support, we will be investing further in TVPlayer as we seek to build a full TV replacement app, with live streaming and on-demand capabilities for high quality content. We are particularly excited by our content acquisition pipeline as major broadcasters increasingly recognise the ability to access a younger demographic of audience through TVPlayer and Simplestream’s Media Manager platform.”
Simplestream’s B2B product, stream broadcast content to any device and deploy catch-up services. Media Manager is used to power TVPlayer, which is available to multi-channel operators internationally and on a white-label basis. Simplestream has seen 100 per cent revenue growth year on year since its Media Manager was introduced to the UK market in 2012, and the company now delivers services across Europe with further international expansion planned for 2015.
