Thomson has launched Digital Media Solutions, an initiative to provide infrastructure products and services to the entertainment and media industries, including broadcasters. The new business-to-business segment stands alongside Thomson’s four other segments: Displays & Components, Consumer Products, New Media Services and Patents & Licensing.
As part of the initiative, Thomson has launched its Technicolor Media Asset Management (MAM) service. The new service, leveraging both in-house Thomson expertise and a content management system from IBM and its strategic partner Ancept, provides an integrated platform for the digital storage, management, access, processing, and distribution of all forms of entertainment content.
By creating a Digital Master file for content (feature film, broadcast, cable, commercial advertising, studio theatrical trailers, visual effect shots, etc.) and storing all associated elements (audio tracks, formatting instructions, metadata and editorial decisions), Technicolor MAM is able to create, manage, and re-create all versions derived from that title with consistent, pristine quality.
The system further allows Technicolor’s customers to place processing and fulfillment orders on-line after reviewing information about the specific content they need. The Technicolor MAM gives content customers unprecedented storage, access, flexibility and worldwide distribution capability from a single system.
A key part of Thomson’s media solutions effort is Technicolor’s new state-of-the-art post-production facility at 110 Leroy Street in New York City’s West Greenwich Village. The new facility, which opened in June, is home to Technicolor’s New York film laboratory. It will be relocated from Midtown in 2004 after its three decade-long presence on West 44th Street.
The combined efforts of Technicolor and its Creative Services division is serving New York's production community, as well as Technicolor's studio, advertising, broadcast and cable customers with new services and resources in lower Manhattan. This new facility adds to Thomson 's recent investments in post production to broaden its service offering and client base, including the recent acquisitions of Pacifica Media Affiliates, VidFilm, and Still in Motion, among others.
Thomson’s Digital Media Solutions was also created to address new markets being created for publishing, managing, and distributing audio and video content over broadband networks. The growing popularity of broadband (DSL and digital cable modem) connectivity has stimulated the need for robust digital content management, packaging, and delivery solutions, the company said.
Digital Media Solutions will provide digital video networking systems for the secure delivery of the content from the studio to the consumer, and key application and media management services that provide the necessary tools for content owners, network operators, and consumers to manage, access, and retrieve streaming entertainment, news, sports, and information. These digital media services will focus on encoding, hosting, digital rights management, navigation and search, personalization, and metrics, Thomson said.
For more information, visit www.thomson.net.
