Akamai, Synacor, Verizon Unveil TV Everywhere Services

11 Apr, 2011 By: Chris Tribbey

More than one company used this week’s National Association of Broadcasters show to introduce new TV everywhere solutions, aiming to simplify how programmers move content across PCs, tablets and mobile devices.

Verizon debuted its Digital Media Services offering, helping companies move live, on-demand and personalized content to a variety of devices. Turner Broadcasting, Hearst Magazines and The Associated Press will be the first companies to try out Verizon’s service.

“Verizon is creating a first-of-its-kind automated digital utility,” said Mike Millegan, president of global wholesale for Verizon. “With this unique delivery platform, built on top of Verizon’s high-IQ infrastructure, content owners, entertainment companies and digital media retailers will be able to create new business models that capitalize and deliver on the promise of digital entertainment.”

Verizon’s service revolves around creating individual video streams for virtually any viewing screen, and streamlining the large-scale formatting, management and delivery of digital media, the company said.

“Verizon is making a bold play in the digital media distribution space by creating an innovative new category of service based on an automated supply chain model,” said Melanie Posey, VP of hosting and managed network services for global technology research firm IDC. “It’s likely that Verizon Digital Media Services will stimulate new thinking about different ways to package, deliver and consume all forms of digital media content.”

Verizon has collaborated with Motorola, Alcatel-Lucent, HP and Technicolor’s digital team to help support its automated content-to-consumer solution.

“We are excited about teaming with Verizon to bring unprecedented scale, expertise and digital workflow support to the digital industry,” said Vince Pizzica, group president for Technicolor's Digital Delivery Business Group. “Technicolor offers the art of content preparation by bringing its vast experience in content creation, creative and post production services and digital workflow expertise.”

Verizon isn’t the only one making TV everywhere waves: Cloud-content company Akamai and online entertainment company Synacor introduced their own solution at the NAB show.

“We’ve been seeing the entertainment industry undergo a major digital transformation and with new business models like TV everywhere, the pace of innovation is growing rapidly,” said Troy Snyder, VP of strategic initiatives at Akamai. “Akamai’s cloud-based infrastructure has been enabling new digital business models for years, and working with our customers in this transformation is a natural next step.”

The service is not commercially available yet but would streamline the authentication and authorization of content, help supply metadata and provide for seamless viewing across devices.

“TV everywhere offers both operators and programmers a tremendous opportunity to extend their brands on the Web, build subscriber loyalty and take advantage of new business models,” said Ted May, SVP of business strategy at Synacor.
 

Related Links :

Study Says ‘TV Everywhere’ Could be a Hit

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Analyst: ‘TV Everywhere’ Antidote to Hulu

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