Comcast-owned white-label video management company, thePlatform (note: the company recently announced a major expansion of its partner program--see the article published on itvt.com, September 9th), said Monday that it has been tapped by Travel Channel Media to manage and publish broadband video for Web and mobile. According to the company, Travel Channel Media--which was formerly a customer of rival Brightcove--will use its Media Publishing System to manage the distribution and playback of short-form programming, including original video and clips from such shows as "Man v. Food," "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations," "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern," and Samantha Brown's "Passport" series.
In addition to seeing thePlatform handling Travel's broadband video publishing requirements, the deal will see it managing the channel's syndication efforts to third-party Web and mobile sites, including MSN Video, iTunes Podcast, YouTube, Comcast's The Fan, and the mobile video services of Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint Nextel. The deal will also see Travel using thePlatform's video player to create custom interactive viewing experiences for its audiences, thePlatform says. "Due to the diverse viewing habits of our consumers, we want to broadly distribute our programs in order to reach the maximum number of viewers," Drew Frederick, Travel Channel Media's senior director of IT and technology, said in a prepared statement. "We turned to thePlatform because of their vast experience in supporting widespread syndication for online and mobile which allows us to quickly expand our advertising reach and grow our audience." Added thePlatform CEO, Ian Blaine: "Travel Channel Media is widely viewed as one of the principal destinations for travel-related content, and we're proud to support their broadband and mobile video efforts. As their publishing needs grew increasingly complex, we were able to step in and help them distribute their content widely, increasing their brand exposure and the number of opportunities to monetize their content library."
