Comcast And thePlatform Announce New Offerings For A Wider Range Of Popular Over-The-Top (OTT) Services And IP-Connected Set-Top Boxes, TVs And Blu-Ray Players.

Todd Spangler at Multichannel News is reporting today that thePlatform, Comcast's recent acquisition will give viewers the ability to deliver content to big-screen TVs through a wider range of over-the-top (OTT|) services and IP-connected set top boxes (STB), TVs and Blu-ray Disc players.

The company is providing features to Boxee, DivX, Free Stream Media, Mitsubishi, LG Electronics, Roku, Samsung, Syabas, TiVo, Toshiba, Vizio and Vudu (now owned by Wal-Mart). And it will support Google TV via Android SDK expected later this year.

In a press release from thePlatform earlier today, they augmented their move noting The Diffusion Group’s (TDG) recent report, Broadband-Enabled TV: Evolution of OTT Hardware Platforms, that more than 360 million households worldwide will own the components necessary to enjoy OTT video services on their TVs by 2014 – across games consoles, Blu-ray Players, hybrid set-top boxes, Internet set-top boxes, media-centric PCs, and networked digital TVs.

“Media and entertainment companies are looking well beyond today’s PCs and conventional set-top-boxes to reach their audiences,” said Ian Blaine, CEO of thePlatform. “At the end of the day, our customers produce and distribute compelling video that they want to monetize, and it’s our job to alleviate the complexity to make that happen across any device or platform. Our support for these OTT services is just the beginning, and we look forward to assisting our customers’ efforts across any number of next-generation, IP-connected devices.”

“Boxee’s mission is to create the best experience for enjoying TV shows, movies, and video from the Internet on a TV, no matter what the source,” said Avner Ronen, CEO and co-founder, Boxee. “This new relationship with thePlatform means that media and entertainment companies can now easily add Boxee as a distribution point to expand their audiences and generate more revenue from advertising and rentals/purchases.”

With today’s announcement, thePlatform has enabled premium video management and publishing to the following OTT services, catering to the varying software and hardware offerings by each:

• Boxee, Inc. (video service and upcoming Boxee Box by D-Link) with details at www.boxee.tv;
• DivX, Inc. (IP-connected consoles, TVs, Blu-ray Players and more) with details at www.divx.com;
• Free Stream Media Inc.’s FlingoTV™ (upcoming video service) with details at www.flingo.tv;
• Roku, Inc. (line of Roku players) with details at www.roku.com;
• Syabas Technologies (upcoming popbox) with details at www.popbox.com;
• TiVo Inc. (line of IP-connected boxes including the TiVo Premiere) with details at www.tivo.com;
• VUDU Inc. (line of VUDU-enabled TVs and Blu-ray Players from LG, Mitsubishi, Samsung, Toshiba, and VIZIO) with details at www.vudu.com.

thePlatform currently provides online video management services to numerous programmers, leading media companies, and five of the top cable TV service providers in North America. In order to support the increasingly complex needs of customers to manage cross-platform video publishing, thePlatform provides robust customer support, including professional services, account management, and industry-leading 24/7 technical support.

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