NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.—Bitcentral has announced it has purchased Powr.tv, a direct-to-consumer video publishing platform provider.
Financial details were not disclosed. But Virgo Investment Group, which is an investor in Bitcentral, provided additional funding for the deal, the company said.
Bitcentral’s Streaming Media Group will integrate its FUEL platform with Powr.tv to offer a unified workflow that simplifies video management, streaming and distribution, the company said.
The combination of products enables deployment of a turnkey, premium OTT application, dynamic playlist support for VOD, live and linear content as well as support for ad-supported video on demand (AVOD), subscription video on demand (SVOD) and transactional video on demand (TVOD).
The integrated product offering also will include AI-based content and metadata ingest, comprehensive distribution and syndication capabilities and dynamic, rules-based automation.
“Media and Entertainment companies need a streaming platform that is flexible enough to support any business model, … easy to deploy, manage and maintain, and at the same time enable unique functionality for building and nurturing thriving content communities,” said Bitcentral CEO Steve Petilli.
The Powr.tv OTT publishing platform has been installed more than 10 million times worldwide with white label apps for mobile and connected televisions. With a portfolio of more than 200 apps, the company has enabled its customers to reach audiences across app stores, such as those of Apple, Google, Roku and Amazon.
Among its customers are BlazeTV, BroadwayOnDemand, Nosey and Studio71, Bitcentral said.
Video publishers currently must assemble a stack of technology solutions ranging from a content management system to a free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) vendor and a CTV application vendor, said Greg Morrow, general manager of Bitcentral’s Streaming Media Group.
However, the combined FUEL-Powr.tv solution simplifies this hurdle.
“FUEL has really focused in on the live stream management, linear management—the syndication of files and a linear feed out of the platform,” he said. “What Powr.tv has done is build a best-of-breed application suite that has rally differentiated monetization capabilities.”
“If we pair that with our technologies, we really provide a suite for the publisher at a really cost-effective price.”
Powr.tv will maintain its headquarters in Austin, Texas, as well as its technical team. Akshay Arvapally, president of Power.tv will remain with the combined company and report to Morrow.
Integration of the products has begun, and Bitcentral intends to have the first phase of the project done in time to talk about during the NAB Show in April, said Petilli.
Despite having less than three months till the show, Arvapally is optimistic as well.
“Powr.tv kind of prides itself in going to market quick in terms of spinning up applications,” he said. “We’re going to continue this even through this phased integration approach.”
More information is available on the Bitcentral website.
