DIRECTV Deploys TANDBERG Television Workflow Automation Solution

TANDBERG
Television, part of the Ericsson Group, announced that DIRECTV, the
leading satellite television service provider in the

U.S. with more than 16.3 million customers,
has deployed the TANDBERG WatchPoint Workflow System to enable its new
multi-platform on-demand service including set-top, Web and mobile content. A
breakthrough workflow management and automation solution, WatchPoint offers
service providers and programmers maximum visibility and control in creating and
executing their digital media strategies.

“The
flexibility of WatchPoint enabled us to customize the platform to support our
individual workflow process and make our DIRECTV On Demand service a
reality,” said Hanno Basse, vice president of Broadcast Systems
Engineering, DIRECTV, Inc. “TANDBERG Television simplified a complicated
process by automating our entire on-demand workflow, so we could focus our
efforts on delivering a compelling lineup of video on demand services to our
customers.” DIRECTV’s new on-demand service will launch this fall
and will offer customers access to thousands of titles, including movies, music
and popular television shows through their DIRECTV Plus HD DVR.

Given the
many steps and systems involved in producing, managing and delivering
multi-platform on-demand services, DIRECTV sought a comprehensive workflow automation
solution that would simplify, manage and reduce costs related to this complex
process. WatchPoint’s open, extensible architecture provides the flexibility to
support service providers’ and programmers’ unique workflow processes by
integrating with multiple in-house, third-party and other TANDBERG Television systems
for content management and distribution.

WatchPoint offers service
providers and programmers the visibility and control to effectively process a variety of content types for delivery in the multiple
formats (e.g., MPEG-4 AVC high definition and standard definition, Windows
Media and Flash video) required for a

multi-platform offering.

“TANDBERG
Television’s in-depth understanding of the complexities associated with the
management and delivery of multimedia and on-demand assets uniquely positions us
to provide this market with a solution that addresses the need for digital
media workflow automation,” said Andrew Rowe, vice president of software
product management, TANDBERG Television, Inc. “We have developed a highly scalable
and flexible solution that integrates seamlessly with our customers’ existing
processes and subsystems, allowing them to reduce complexity and cost and leverage their hardware and software investments while
freeing them to focus on building new revenue channels and improving the
quality of their service offerings.”

In
addition to the WatchPoint Workflow System, DIRECTV utilizes several other
TANDBERG Television systems to deliver its new on-demand service, including the
company’s market-leading advanced compression and Xport Producer content
production solutions.