ZoneTV, a "digital-first” video service that’s targeting integrations with MVPD set-tops, said it is working with Ooyala and Microsoft to help it automate and fine-tune the creation of a new lineup of OTT-delivered linear-style TV channels that are set to debut this fall.
ZoneTV said it will underpin that effort with “media lifecycle tools” from Ooyala (its Flex CMS) alongside Microsoft’s Video Indexer (part of Azure’s Cognitive Services platform), for its coming array of “Dynamic Channels.”
ZoneTV said that combo will give it the ability to curate about 6,000 hours of videos “on the fly” to create those channels. Those tools, it added, uses advanced algorithms to characterize content and auto-extract and analyst metadata into genres, and pull topics from speech and text in a way that optimizes the curation process.
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“We’re building the next generation of pay-TV services, so we need next-generation tools. With the combination of Ooyala’s platform and Microsoft’s cognitive computing services, the ZoneTV Programming Studio delivers an unmatched capability to enhance the TV ecosystem and translate into a one-of-a-kind viewer experience,” Jeff Weber, ZoneTV’s CEO, said in a statement.
ZoneTV, formerly known as ES3, initially targeted Mediaroom, the IPTV middleware platform that Ericsson acquired from Microsoft in the fall of 2013 that powers pay TV services from companies such as AT&T, Hawaiian Telecom, Telus, Frontier Communications and CenturyLink. DirecTV, now part of AT&T, was ZoneTV’s first launch partner outside the Mediaroom environment. Comcast also integrated ZoneTV’s “Santa Tracker” app on its X1 platform during the 2016 holidays.
