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
Snapchat
NowTV by Sky
USA Network - "Dig"
Verizon
Region:
North America