Amagi Partners With Pac-12 Networks, Grabs Herring Networks’ Supplier of the Year Award
Story Highlights
Amagi is entering a partnership with Pac-12 Networks, the content arm of the Pac-12 Conference, as its cloud platform for its recently-launched 24/7 Free Ad-Supported TV (FAST) channel, Pac-12 Insider. In addition, Amagi has expanded its operations into France, DACH, and NL markets, further strengthening its operations in Europe. Lastly, the company has been chosen as Herring Networks’ Supplier of the Year for 2020.
Pac-12 Networks
The engagement with Amagi covers program scheduling, cloud playout, delivery, and ad insertion for Pac-12 Insider on Pac-12 Now and Pac-12.com as well as third party FAST platforms, including The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Samsung TV Plus, Redbox Free Live TV, and Xumo. The solution suite used by Pac-12 Networks includes Amagi’s award-winning cloud playout platform, CLOUDPORT, and its server-side ad insertion platform, THUNDERSTORM.
“Given how highly-regarded Amagi is in this landscape, we are excited to partner up and have already experienced numerous benefits, from achieving a great degree of automation to its tremendous ease of use,” says Ryan Currier, Senior Vice President, Engineering and Products, Pac-12 Networks. “Amagi was very supportive in the launch of Pac-12 Insider and we continue to be impressed with the results.”
“Sports broadcasting can be a highly complex process, especially when launching a new channel, like Pac-12 Insider,” says Srinivasan KA, co-founder, Amagi. “The ability to manage all the moving parts for a new channel seamlessly through a simple cloud-based platform is very valuable. We are proud to partner with Pac-12 Networks in its mission to connect fans to the universities and sports they love.”
European Expansion
The company, in the previous quarter, registered a YoY quarterly growth of 120%, and today supports more than 400 channels on its platform for a variety of services – linear channel creation, distribution and monetization, with 1000+ delivery end points.
Industry veteran, Stefan Niesen, has recently joined Amagi as its Vice President of Sales to drive engagement with clients in the region in their transition to cloud-based operations. Stefan has 20+ years of experience helping media and entertainment customers grow their business and has been in senior leadership roles previously at Ericsson, Espial and Beenius, among others.
Amagi has a strong and growing portfolio of clients in France, DACH and NL region already, and with local presence, Amagi expects to address the growing demand for its products in these markets. Amagi’s clients in the region include well-known brands in broadcast and OTT such as Insight TV, Qwest TV, Vice TV France, Sofy.TV and XITE, among others. Amagi delivers linear broadcast and OTT channels to all major cable, satellite and OTT platforms in Europe for leading TV Networks like A+E Networks UK, Discovery Networks, Warner Media, IMG Media, and NBCUniversal International.
“Europe is our second largest market, and in addition to the UK, France, DACH and NL regions present a strong demand for cloud solutions for live linear broadcast and monetization across traditional cable and streaming TV platforms,” says Srinivasan. “We are in the midst of a huge industry transformation as clients are increasingly looking to virtualize their operations in the cloud, and explore new ways of distributing their content. Owing to its technology leadership and global experience, Amagi is well-positioned to be a reliable partner for broadcasters in the region.”
“We are excited to expand our presence in Europe and we will continue to invest in the region to provide our clients a strong support and service framework to move their operations to the cloud and expand their OTT footprint,” added Srinivasan.
Supplier of the Year
Herring Networks recognizes only a single supplier for its highly coveted Supplier of the Year award chosen by in-house staff members from numerous departments. Amagi, this year’s recipient, played a critical role in Herring Networks’ successful deployment and monetization of two free, ad-supported television (FAST) channels under the OAN Encore and AWE Encore brand names, along with subscription CTV monetization of Herring’s primary cable services.
“We’ve been fortunate to have numerous outstanding suppliers supporting our content operations,” says Robert Herring, Sr., CEO of Herring Networks. “Yet this year, Amagi’s technical support in linear channel creation, distribution, and monetization has been nothing short of exceptional.”