BBC Studios and its wholly owned subsidiary UKTV have selected the German media services company Full Season to provide playout services for over 50 channels and their associated online video offerings. The multi-year agreement will support the delivery of programming to audiences in the United Kingdom and international markets.
Full Season will deliver fully managed end-to-end services, including content preparation, playout, online video workflows and channel delivery to multiple collection points, supporting onward global distribution for BBC Studios and UKTV.
BBC Studios is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. UKTV operates a number of commercial channels and an online service under the masterbrand “U” in the United Kingdom.
Tim Bertioli of BBC Studios and UKTV said: “Seamless, high-quality, and resilient service delivery were key priorities for us. full season’s robust infrastructure and proven operational expertise gave us confidence in their ability to support our evolving global channels and streaming business and deliver the reliability our audiences and partners expect.”
The transition marks a departure from their previous service provider, Red Bee Media, which was originally formed as a spin out from the BBC.
Full Season also provides playout and online video services for Hearst Networks in the United Kingdom and Germany including the History Channel.
The company is part of the MBS Group and is based in Unterföhring, near Munich in Germany. It was created after the German communications group MBS, formerly Media Broadcast Satellite, acquired certain playout, content management, and online delivery operations for Germany and the United Kingdom from the satellite operator SES.