Interactive TV Headlines Round-Up 2/17/15 (VI): Shout! Factory, SeaChange, Simplestream, Snapchat, Sky, Taboola, ThinkAnalytics, This Technology, Univision, USA, Verizon, Vevo, VH1

February 16, 2015

Because the [itvt] editorial team has been busy working on The TV of Tomorrow Show 2015 (June 23rd-24th in San Francisco--purchase your Super Early-Bird tickets here!), we are covering stories in this issue in headlines/round-up format:

Distributor, Shout! Factory, Launches Ad-Supported OTT Service on Roku and the Web
SeaChange International Completes Acquisition of Social-Media Analytics Software Developer, Timeline Labs
Market Research Firm, Sharablee, Finds that Cable Networks Comprise 9 of the Top-25 Most Social Brands in the US
Simplestream, the Company behind the TVPlayer B2C Live-Streaming Service, Raises £2 Million in Equity Funding; Plans to Offer TVPlayer Internationally on a White-Label Basis
Japan's NHK World TV Launches on TVPlayer in UK
Food Network UK Partners with Simplestream to Develop and Launch Streaming App for iOS and Android
Smart TV Alliance Unveils Version 4.0 of its SDK
Madonna Premieres Music Video on Snapchat's New "Discover" Curated Video Service
Sky News and Sky Sports Launch on Snapchat Discover
Sky Says its Connected TV Platform Saw Nearly 2 Billion Download and Streaming Requests in 2014, Up 50% from Previous Year
Sky to Launch New Version of its Roku-Built Now TV OTT STB this Year
Content-Discovery Company, Taboola, Raises $117 Million; Investors Include Comcast Ventures
Target to Shut Down its Target Ticket Video-Streaming Service; Service Launched just 18 Months ago
Telemundo #1 Hispanic VOD Network, According to Rentrak
Search and Recommendations Company, ThinkAnalytics, Reports 50% Year-on-Year Revenue Growth and 200% Profit Growth for 2014; New Customers in 2014 Included Fox, Sony, Viaplay, Get and Sunrise; Company Claims to Serve 150 Million+ Subscribers
Founder Fred Seibert Provides More Detail on Thirty Labs, his Startup Studio/Incubator Devoted to Developing New Video Apps
This Technology Secures US Patent (8,949,882) for Dynamic Ad Insertion Technology; Patent "Describes the Method for Identifying Dynamic Advertising Inventory and Defining Attributes Like Ownership, Length and Interactivity, which Are All Critical Requirements for Targeted Advertising Delivery"
This Technology Teams with Harmonic to Enable MVPD's and Programmers to "Deliver Regionalized Content, such as Sports or Local Programming, to the Right Audience on any Device"; Solution, which Has Been Deployed with a "Tier-One MVPD," Combines This Technology's Alternate Content Delivery System with Harmonic's Encoding Tech
This Technology Launches Congruity Intelligent Signal Processor (iSP) to Enable Efficient Management of SCTE-35 Cues across Delivery Platforms; Cloud-Based Solution Is Designed to Normalize the Wide Variances of SCTE-35 Messages that MVPD's Receive from Programmers (September 24th)
Turner Sports' Coverage of NBA All-Star Weekend Sees Significant Growth on Digital Platforms
Twitter Acquires Niche, a Company that Connects Advertisers with Social-Media Stars, for $30 Million+; Companies Previously Collaborated on Commercial Composed Entirely of Vines
27% of Swedish Cable Operator Com Hem's Subscriber Base Now Has TiVo Service
UKTV Launches its UKTV Play VOD App on Android
Flama, a Univision-Bedrocket Digital Video JV Targeted at Bicultural Millennials, Launches on Conde Nast Entertainment's OTT Service, The Scene; Deal Brings 100 Original Episodes to The Scene with New Content Added Weekly and also Foresees Opportunities for Future Co-Development of Projects
Univision Promotes/Expands Roles of Digital Executives, Kevin Conroy and Isaac Lee
USA Network Promotes New Miniseries, "Dig," with "Dig Decoder" Augmented Reality (AR) App; Will also Enhance Show with "Dig Decoded" Interactive Companion Game
Verizon Rolls Out New User Interface and Features for its FiOS Quantum TV Platform
Report: D-Link and Sequans Developing eMBMS TV Stick for Verizon
Vevo Claims 10 Billion Views for January 2015, Up 86% from Last Year
VH1 Launches Web Series Devoted to Celebrity Tweets