Gotuit Media--which has developed a search/navigation system, dubbed "Gotuit On Demand," that combines segment metadata with VOD content, allowing viewers to use their remote control to quickly access the specific parts of an on-demand show that interest them, and which has used the system to power VOD services that have been deployed on a number of Time Warner Cable and Adelphia systems in New England, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio--recently entered the broadband video space with the launch of a broadband video portal, Gotuit.com, which it touts as using its search and navigation technology to make "loading, buffering, and waiting to watch videos online a thing of the past" (see [itvt] Issue 6.87 Part 3). The company has now implemented a "Gotuit Media Platform" program, under which it plans to license its broadband video platform (including, if required, the line-up of content that it has licensed to date) to content owners, Web properties and broadband access providers. Under the auspices of the new program, Overland Park, Kansas-based triple-play provider, Embarq, is using Gotuit's platform to create a co-branded broadband video portal, dubbed Embarq Video Clicks, for its high-speed Internet customers. The portal features an array of video content from Gotuit's catalog--including music, sports, weather, entertainment, and breaking news--which Embarq customers can access through the Embarq Web site or their personal subscriber home page. "It is important for us to stay ahead of the curve by enhancing and expanding the Embarq High- Speed Internet experience," Kirk Porteous, Embarq's director of product development, said in a prepared statement. "Gotuit offers impressive video navigation, excellent content and a very user-friendly player environment. This is an engaging enhancement to our High- Speed Internet offerings, and we anticipate a very positive response from our customers to Embarq Video Clicks."
In other Gotuit news: the company says that the Gotuit Media Platform is also powering Major League Soccer's (MLS) new Quick Kicks application, which is located on the latter's Web site (www.mlsnet.com). "Through our partnership with Gotuit, MLS is able to offer our fans the opportunity to access video from MLS games in multiple ways and at the time of their choosing," MLS president, Mark Abbott, said in a prepared statement. "It is the type of access that savvy fans now demand and we are pleased to be able to offer it to them." Its deal with MLS represents the first time that Gotuit's technologies have been used by a professional sports organization. Visitors to mlsnet.com will have access to the co-branded video portal shortly after each game is completed. The service will feature game highlights and other videos, as well as the ability to search within each game for such specifics as top players and key plays. According to Gotuit, its platform's search functionality will allow end-users to create "their own personal highlights reel with the content of most interest to them."
Originally Published: September 27, 2006 in [itvt] Issue 6.96 Part 2
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