Verizon Digital Media Services (VDMS), a division of Verizon Communications focused on cloud-based video service delivery, is looking to scale up its online video and TV Everywhere capabilities via the acquisition of upLynk, a startup founded in 2010 that is powering the suite of Watch Disney apps, as well as Watch ABC.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but AllThingsD reported that the VDMS is paying $75 million for upLynk.
Finances aside, VDMS is adding to the fold a company that has developed a framework designed to simplify and streamline the process of uploading, encoding and inserting ads into TV Everywhere services for live, linear and on-demand content. upLynk has developed a single streaming adaptive video format that enables playback across all devices, versus the more expensive and time-consuming process of encoding and storing content in multiple formats.
All of upLynk’s employees (roughly a dozen of them) are joining VDMS, Chris Carey, chief product officer for VDMS, said.
Launched earlier this year, VDMS styles itself as a white label media supply chain service that provided end-to-end services for media publishers that handles everything from ingestion, transmission, content management, hosting, and delivery over the last mile to the end device for live linear, on-demand video and live event streaming. Starting in-house, initial VDMS clients include Verizon FiOS and Redbox Instant by Verizon.
VDMS is also looking to extend its services to cable operators and other service providers with multiscreen video strategies. “We’re really bullish on how we can simplify and bring a Verizon-quality solution to cable operators,” Carey said.
