ITV

Tag: Prime Focus Technologies

  • Prime Focus Technologies signs deal with HOOQ

    Prime Focus Technologies signs deal with HOOQ

    MUMBAI: Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), a subsidiary of Prime Focus, has inked a deal with Asian over-the-top (OTT) player HOOQ, which recently launched in the Indian market.

     

    With this, PFT’s CLEAR Operations Cloud will help package and deliver content on HOOQ. 

     

    HOOQ will deliver both Hollywood films and television series, as well as popular local movies and programs to customers anytime, anywhere by enabling them to stream and download the shows on their device or platform of choice. HOOQ, which is the OTT service from Singtel, Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros. Entertainment, is being rolled out in Asian markets like India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, from the first quarter of 2015. 

     

    The biggest challenge for any OTT platform is speed of delivery as content exists in different formats, varied quality standards, no subtitles, dubs, edits etc. Piecing this puzzle quickly for consumption requires technology. That’s the advantage of PFT’s CLEAR, Hybrid Cloud-enabled Media ERP Suite. As part of the deal, CLEAR Operations Cloud will manage key workflows including content processing and packaging. The solution initially includes managing over 20,000 hours of Indian and Hollywood content for HOOQ.

     

    “Prime Focus Technologies is thrilled to be a part of a transformative OTT solution in Asia. Consumer behavior is changing rapidly and HOOQ will surely have the first mover advantage in the Asian market. Our ‘Digital Next’ offering, Operations Cloud is uniquely placed to match scale, complexity and disruptive vision of HOOQ to securely present premium global and local content to a billion Asian viewers anytime, anywhere,” said PFT founder and CEO Ramki Sankaranarayanan.

     

    “Prime Focus Technologies is a known name in innovative Cloud solutions especially in the Asian market. Their experience and technology prowess will add huge value in managing project of this scale and size,” added HOOQ CEO Peter G. Bithos.

  • Prime Focus bags iTunes certification for content delivery

    Prime Focus bags iTunes certification for content delivery

    MUMBAI: Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology arm of Prime Focus, has received certification from Apple to deliver movie content and associated assets directly to iTunes.

     

    This recognition comes just after PFT launched ‘Digital Next’ offerings at the 2015 NAB Show, providing cloud-based solutions to help with the immediate challenges faced by the media and entertainment industry to meet the demands of the digital consumer. With this qualification, PFT will assist Apple and its content partners in delivering content on the Apple Store.

     

    “Today’s consumers demand more content, quicker and at their fingertips – a challenge we welcome and combat daily,” said Prime Focus Technologies founder and CEO Ramki Sankaranarayanan.

     

    “Apple is an absolute leader in meeting the demands of digital consumers and providing innovative ways of content delivery. We are honoured to have Apple recognise our commitment to this space and to have earned their trust as a long term partner,” he added.

  • Prime Focus Technologies’ first trip to MIPCOM

    Prime Focus Technologies’ first trip to MIPCOM

    MUMBAI: As MIPCOM, the biggest content market in the world celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) is happy to debut there and transform the interactions at MIP into valuable opportunities.

     

    PFT offers customers transformational solutions that help virtualise the content supply chain and digitally mediate enterprise workflows to manage not just the content, but the business of content. CLEAR, its award-winning hybrid cloud technology enabled media ERP platform and digital content services helps drive creative enablement, enhance ecosystem efficiencies and sustainability, reduce cost and realise new monetisation opportunities.

     

    Prime Focus Technologies associate VP Sanjeev Das says that the  reason for participating at the exhibition is because he believes MIPCOM is a global market for entertainment content across all platforms and it is a great opportunity for PFT to showcase its portfolio of cloud enabled services. “We have a strong and proven services portfolio. We deliver to some of the biggest broadcast networks, studios, brands and sports bodies in the world. In terms of breadth of services offered as well as volumes handled, PFT is unrivalled. With such a strong portfolio, we believe we are in the best position to help the content owners manage their content efficiently.”

     

    PFT annually manages 350,000 hours of content; delivers over 100,000 hours of digitisation and more than 10 million files for TV everywhere platforms. Moreover it has over 35,000 hours of subtitling/closed captioning and 5,000 hours of dubbing and about 50,000 tags daily.

     

    15000 hours of content is processed on operations cloud in two months, 70,000 assets published to new media annually and manage content workflows across 168 physical sites. Plus, PFT is also certified by YouTube for audience development.

     

    “Prime Focus’ network of studios and world sourcing model ensures we have infrastructure across all major content markets and ability to source expert talent locally to deliver the service. We are ISO 27001 certified and the only company to offer SLAs on cloud,” says Das.

     

    Also, with its latest offer – ‘Journey to the cloud’, Das feels that content owners can now enjoy CLEAR’s operations cloud where they don’t just store and transcode, but also perform end-to-end content operations on cloud.

     

    Das has scheduled meetings at the event, predominantly one to one interactions where it will be in a position to assess and talk through concerns/challenges and see how PFT can help manage the business of content better.

     

    So what content and property, PFT plans to sell at MIPCOM? PFT offers cloud-enabled content services like bulk digitisation, mastering, localisation services like dubbing and subtitling, digital play-out services, contextual advertising and metadata services at high quality and low costs.
    “We achieve that by leveraging our global delivery model and ‘True North’, the world’s largest digital media services cloud. Operations Cloud, part of the CLEAR Media ERP Suite is ready-to-deploy with a wide range of preset robots to (TVE, customer portal etc, Netflix, YT, DPP) – they enjoy faster time-to-market at lowest costs. All this with pre-defined SLAs and timely counsel,” says Das.

     

    PFT aims to tap into EMEA and SEA markets with a focus on both linear and non-linear platforms.

     

    It expects to meet as many content owners and familiarise them with CLEAR and the value PFT can bring to them. “We help drive greater efficiencies, cost rationalisation and business certainty,” concludes Das.

     

  • Prime Focus to open new 500 seat facility in Bengaluru SEZ

    Prime Focus to open new 500 seat facility in Bengaluru SEZ

    BENGALURU:  Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology arm of Prime Focus, announced its plans to expand operations in Bengaluru. PFT is now set to open a new facility at RMZ Ecospace that can seat an additional 500 people. PFT has 500 employees at its existing Bengaluru facilities, and is the global R&D and software development hub for the company.

     

    PFT says that it will leverage the market opportunity to monetise its marquee customer base with clients such as Warner Bros. Television Studios, CBS Television Studios, 20th Century Fox Television Studios, Relativity Media, Legendary Pictures, Fox Television Studios, A&E, Showtime, Starz Media and Lionsgate at the new Bengaluru facility.

     

    Click here to read more

  • Prime Focus Technologies completes acquisition of DAX

    Prime Focus Technologies completes acquisition of DAX

    MUMBAI: Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology subsidiary of Prime Focus today announced that it has completed the acquisition of DAX, a leading provider of cloud-based production workflow and media asset management applications to the entertainment industry.

     

    On 11 March, PFT announced a definitive agreement to acquire DAX for a base consideration of $ 9.1 million in a uniquely structured performance linked transaction. PFT through its US subsidiary will acquire all the assets of DAX for an upfront payment with balance payable over three years primarily from cash flows from the North American operations.

    The acquisition gives PFT ownership of DAX’s patented technology (US Patent No: 7,660,416/ 8,218,764) and products including the Primetime Emmy award winning Digital Dailies solution which is the de-facto industry standard in television production.

    It also sets the course for PFT’s strategic expansion in North America. PFT will significantly enhance the value proposition to DAX’s marquee customers including major studios and broadcast networks (Warner Bros. Television Studios, CBS Television Studios, 20th Century Fox Television Studios, Legendary Pictures, Fox Television Studios, A&E, Showtime, Starz, Relativity Media and Lionsgate) and many independent production and distribution companies.

    The combination now creates an unrivaled industry leader, offering a uniquely robust and dynamic stack of enterprise-class Media ERP solutions to broadcasters and studios claims the technology arm of Prime Focus.

  • Prime Focus Technologies to acquire US-based DAX for Rs 56 crore

    Prime Focus Technologies to acquire US-based DAX for Rs 56 crore

    MUMBAI: Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology subsidiary Prime Focus, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire DAX, a leading provider of cloud-based production workflow and media asset management applications to the entertainment industry for a base consideration of $ 9.1 million (about Rs 56 crore) in a uniquely structured performance linked transaction.

     

    Prime Focus is a global leader in providing media and entertainment industry services.

     

    PFT through its US subsidiary will acquire all the assets of DAX for an upfront payment and with balance payable over 3 years such that cash flows from the North American operations will support the payment.

     

    This acquisition gives PFT ownership of DAX’s patented technology and products including the Primetime Emmy award winning Digital Dailies solution which is the de-facto industry standard in television production. This acquisition also sets the course for PFT’s strategic expansion in North America. PFT will significantly enhance the value proposition to DAX’s marquee customers including major studios and broadcast networks (Warner Bros. Television Studios, CBS Television Studios, 20th Century Fox Television Studios, Relativity Media, Legendary Pictures, Fox Television Studios, A&E, Showtime, Starz Media and Lionsgate) and many independent production and distribution companies.

     

    “Our vision is to build the best enterprise platform for Production on the Cloud by taking a fresh look at media workflows through the lens of a studio that wants to efficiently collaborate across divisions with its entertainment content before, during and after the production phase,” said Ramki Sankaranarayanan, Founder and CEO, PFT.

     

    “Digital Dailies is one of the first significant entry points to Production on the cloud. PFT’s CLEARTM Media ERP platform combined with DAX’s team and products will accelerate the realisation of this vision”.

     

    “PFT has tremendous resources at its disposal,” said Patrick Macdonald-King, CEO, DAX who will now assume the role of President and be part of the executive leadership team at PFT responsible for North America. “Beginning with its 250-person strong R&D and product development team dedicated to a single platform with rare media-centric IT skills. This marriage allows DAX to fulfill its vision and extends DAX’s support of file-based workflows across the enterprise. PFT’s arsenal of media-centric technology tools will drive the DAX product offering to a new level. For DAX customers, it’s important to note that all tech support, client services, product design and account management will remain in Los Angeles, but also expand to the PFT offices in New York and London to better service the East Coast and Europe.”

     

    The global market for media asset management, workflow management, collaboration and media processing services is approximately $10 billion. With content enterprises like broadcast networks faced with flat top lines and rising operating costs, organisations are increasingly attentive to solutions like virtualisation of content supply chain operations, and media process outsourcing to enhance overall profitability as well as top line by realising new media monetisation opportunities in the multi-screen world.

     

    “PFT’s CLEAR platform is the most scalable and feature rich application I have seen in the market and its laser like focus on servicing the media industry is unique,” said Macdonald-King. “Most of the competition is focused on single point solutions that further cement the siloed approach which is detrimental to long term agility and sustainability of media businesses.”

     

    The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the coming weeks. PFT and DAX will be exhibiting together at the upcoming NAB Show 2014, and will showcase a number of CLEAR and DAX product releases.

     

    “The biggest broadcast networks in the world run CLEAR Media ERP platform to manage their content supply chain,” informs Ramki. “Managing 200 TV shows every day and over 350,000 hours of content has made CLEAR a world leader in the Media Cloud solutions market. We would like to extend this leadership to Production by tapping into the creative process in a more holistic way, empowering studios to truly transform the entertainment paradigm. DAX takes us closer to this goal,” concluded Ramki.

  • Prime Focus Technologies launches the worlds largest Digital Media Services Cloud

    Prime Focus Technologies launches the worlds largest Digital Media Services Cloud

    MUMBAI: Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology arm of Prime Focus, announced the inauguration of the world’slargest digital media services cloud– True North. The 24x7x365 Global Content Operations Hub spread across 100,000 square feet, manages over 300,000 hours of content, over 100 TV Shows a day and is the Digital Backbone for Over 200 TV Channels.
     

    True North is built on a 17 Giga bit media networkand powers CLEAR, PFT’s Media ERP platform. True North is a Digital Media Services Cloud doing Unified Transcoding, Preparation, Packaging and Delivery.

    “True North is where our technology and talent comes together to create innovative solutions for our clients. As a global operations hub, True North will add to the already existing 300,000 hours of content under our management, which has led to a robust growth of 300% over the past three years for PFT. True North is a confluence of many things. It is a Digital Lab for Cinema. It is a Production Hub for TV. True North will enable the future today, said Ramki Sankaranarayanan, Founder, President & CEO, Prime Focus Technologies.

    Why True North: The compass always points to True North, the geographic North Pole. It stands for “Absolute”, “Unambiguous” and “Certainty” just like PFT’s solution, CLEAR.