In addition to the Freely announcement, Simplestream will reveal details of a significant new project for a major client.
At IBC 2024, Simplestream will showcase new features and enhancements to its Channel Studio and Livestream Scheduler products, aimed at broadcasters, sports organisations and content owners to create new monetisation avenues, boost audience engagement and increase live viewing figures.
The company will also highlight its preferred technology partnership with Freely, the new free, live and on-demand streaming service brought to UK households by Britain’s public service broadcasters (BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, and ITV). Simplestream has enhanced its live streaming capabilities by onboarding several channels onto the Freely platform, managed by Everyone TV. Fully compliant with Freely’s requirements, Simplestream has streamlined the onboarding process for channels, delivering a seamless end-to-end workflow from channel acquisition in multiple formats to encoding, normalisation and packaging into DVB-DASH format, along with CDN application.
During the show, Simplestream will demonstrate its Channel Studio, designed to create and distribute live linear channels. Channel Studio now enables operators to combine VOD assets and livestreams in the same playlist for distribution across multiple platforms. Users can add live event placeholders, allowing the scheduler to switch to live input as part of regular programming.
Once the playlist is populated for a 24-hour slot, it is automatically syndicated to AWS Elemental MediaTailor to form a virtual channel, integrating scheduled live events within Simplestream’s cloud-based platform, Media Manager. With optional server-side ad insertion (SSAI), operators can serve unique ads to each user, providing new revenue streams and detailed ad performance metrics.
Simplestream will also feature its Livestream Scheduler, a cloud application that brings multiple event data management capabilities under one intuitive interface. Initially provided in 2023 to Canadian communications technology company TELUS, the Livestream Scheduler has been upgraded to distribute live events across digital platforms. This self-service solution offers significant scalability, appealing to media companies of all sizes, from large telcos to user-generated content.
Licensed to platform providers, all live content providers can access an easy-to-navigate interface to manage events and streams in a cloud-based environment. The backend acts as a middleware, with a branded UI and the added benefit of reducing the margin of error to a minimum, as well as allowing any platform provider to limitlessly expand the number and scale of content providers providing the live feeds.
As well as the Freely announcement, Simplestream will be unveiling details of a large project for a major new customer. Continuing the expansion of its client portfolio, the company will provide a full set of OTT services across multiple platforms, starting in Q3 2024.
Stand 5.G60
