BBC Worldwide has selected a system from SeaChange to power its new BBC Store. The online service will launch to consumers in the United Kingdom in 2015 and will include programmes that are unavailable elsewhere online. SeaChange will provide a managed service using its Cloud Adrenalin multiscreen platform, which will be demonstrated at IBC in Amsterdam.
“We selected SeaChange because it’s focused exclusively on creating solutions for extremely demanding television operations worldwide,” said Michael Fleshman, the former chief technology officer of the Financial Times, who is responsible for consumer digital technology at BBC Worldwide. “Our strategy for BBC Store will use the cloud to achieve scale, reliability and quality. SeaChange Cloud Adrenalin will be the key to our ability to present the programs we’re offering on any devices viewers choose.”
“We’re very pleased to make SeaChange’s first cloud OTT deployment with this prestigious customer,” said Raghu Rau, the chief executive of SeaChange.
The BBC Trust approved plans for the online BBC Store at the end of February. It was described as a natural extension of the opportunity to buy BBC shows on disc. It follows the end of what was described as a ‘pilot’ attempt to launch a global online subscription video service.
For once, it seems the BBC is prepared to buy rather than attempt to build a software platform.
The Cloud Adrenalin pay-as-you-grow model allows providers to control spending in response to requirements for programming, subscribers and levels of service offering.
Based in Massachusetts, SeaChange International has transformed its business to offer multi-screen video services through an open, cloud-based, intelligent software platform.
SeaChange customers include all the major cable operators in the Americas and Europe, and the largest telecom companies in the world.
The company reported an operating loss of $15.3 million on revenue of $54 million in the first half of the financial year, compared to a $1.3 million loss on $73 million in the same period the previous year.
Last year BBC Worldwide returned £179 million to the BBC on sales of over a billion pounds.