Clearleap, RCDb Partner on Solution that Transforms Blu-ray Players into VOD-Enabled Cable Boxes

Clearleap, a company which offers a cloud-based content management, delivery and advertising platform for bringing Internet-sourced video content to television sets, and Related Content Database (RCDb), a company which offers a software platform that it bills as enabling customers to rapidly integrate and deploy a range of Web services to managed-network set-top boxes, connected TV's and Blu-ray discs and players, said Tuesday that they have developed a joint solution that will allow pay-TV operators to deliver their full VOD libraries to any subscriber equipped with an Internet-connected Blu-ray player. The companies unveiled the solution at the CableLabs Summer Conference, which is taking place this week in Keystone, CO.

According to the companies, the joint solution shows how a new revenue opportunity can be added by expanding an existing service to a second or third TV screen, without investment in new hardware or complex integrations. The companies bill the solution as allowing operators to extend the reach of their service offering beyond the traditional set-top box and as offering consumers access to operator VOD libraries on devices that already exist in many homes today.

Based on Clearleap's cloud-based content management and delivery platform and RCDb's Blu-ray disc software, enterprise server and data services, the joint solution leverages the standard in-home Internet connection, the companies say, and does not require deployment of a new set-top box. In order to launch the on-demand application directly from a cable operator's servers, consumers simply insert a Blu-ray disc from the operator into a BD-Live player and press start, the companies claim. The Blu-ray disc and service are powered by RCDb's software, and the content is then streamed by Clearleap's TV technology platform, operated on behalf of the cable operator, to the consumer's home. According to the companies, RCDb's end-to-end system delivers the operator application frontend, as well as service integration and management, to the Blu-ray environment; while Clearleap powers the content asset ingestion, management and delivery through its cloud-based platform. "With very little upfront costs or investment of time, the pay-TV industry can now easily create new revenue streams, offer new package plans and reduce the cost of delivering VOD to the home," Clearleap CEO, Braxton Jarratt, said in a prepared statement. "As direct-to-consumer TV and movie offerings continue to gain market share and siphon off what were traditionally cable dollars, the industry can now move quickly with a more compelling counter offer." Added RCDb CEO, Zane Vella: "This new development exponentially increases the number of network end points which an operator can bring to multiple locations within the home. Integration of our software platform, which today powers millions of Blu-ray consumer experiences, with the Clearleap VOD backend, leverages a fast-growing product category that consumers understand; the Blu-ray player."