22.04.2020

The 101 companies that matter most in online video

Streaming Media has selected Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE) as one of the 101 companies that matter most in online video.

Streaming Media, an Information Today Inc. company, is a diversified news media company serving and educating the streaming media industry and community. Lead by a team of recognized industry experts, Streaming Media provides industry professionals and corporations utilizing digital media technology with global real-time news, resources, services through editorial, discussion lists, feature articles, and much more.

Each year the media company releases its Streaming Media Europe 101, a spotlight on the most interesting, important, and influential companies in the online video space. Instead of listing content companies and platforms, Streaming Media emphasis the companies that create the technologies that enable those content publishers to reach their customers.

BCE, a European leader in media services, system integration and software development, was selected by Streaming Media for its numerous projects in streaming, online video and its video broadcasting.

“Most of the companies are targeting markets outside their home countries or regions. And in a year when international travel ground to a halt, it has been impressive to watch how many of them have continued to expand their markets despite the obstacles.” Writes Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen, Editor at Streaming Media.

On the streaming side, BCE worked hand in hand with its subsidiary Freecaster to develop a broadcast-grade live streaming offer, providing seamless services for the European Commission Coronavirus Global Response initiative in which governments from across the world teamed up with health organizations and partners to contribute to the worldwide pledging marathon.

BCE took part in the #SpaceConnectsUs Virtual meeting, in which major players of Luxembourg’s space, communications and broadcasting industry joined forces to support people around the world during the COVID-19 crisis and help them cope with self-isolation and quarantine.

The Asteroid Foundation launched Asteroid Day TV 2020, a 34 days streaming featuring asteroid related content and exclusive live programmes in multiple languages produced in partnership with the European Space Agency. The TV was followed by the live streaming of Asteroid Day on the 30 June 2020.

Multiple companies asked BCE to cover their general meeting, like Harmonie Mutuelle, for whom Freecaster created several virtual sets, with direct interactivity from one studio to the other, complying with the safety distances; or the coverage of the annual general meeting of RTL Group which featured simultaneous translation and was integrated in the voting portal for the shareholders.

BCE ensured the live streaming of several live streaming events and conferences for Luxembourg For Finance, The Bridge Forum, The Alliance for Financial inclusion, and the Luxembourg Parliament to name but a few.

In the fashion world, Freecaster ensured the streaming of Louis Vuitton product presentation to the different offices around the world. In addition to the private catwalk, the customer wanted to focus on all the details of its collection. The different offices could interact directly during the live stream.

Guerlain wanted to present its collection to the press and key influencers. Freecaster produced the show and ensured its live broadcast on a secured portal.

BCE also created hybrid experience for several events, allowing them to keep their traditional visitors while gaining new viewers thanks to the international dimension of their online presence. ICT Spring in Luxembourg reached a grand total of 11,293 unique views.

“ICT Spring will never be the same, as this new format will allow us to develop even more opportunities for our partners and all the visitors, whether they are present in Luxembourg, or at home, on the other side of the world” highlights Kamel Amroune, CEO of Farvest Group.

The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) selected BCE to cover and ensure the live stream of the two stages for the European Regional Hub – Luxembourg during the 59th ICCA Congress 2020.

“With its global footprint and prestigious speakers, it was paramount for the ICCA to find a partner which can deliver high quality and seamless services. Our experience, media professionals, state-of-the-art production means combined to our rock-solid streaming platform is the perfect match for the ICCA” explains Xavier Thillen.

BCE ensured a hybrid production of the 4 days event ACA Insurance Days 2020 with a mix between on-site interviews and remote stakeholders via Visio-conference systems. For the academic session, BCE was on site with its High Definition (HD) outside Broadcast vehicle, a camera crane, camera crews, video and Visio conference engineers, 4K cameras, robotic cameras, lights and high-quality audio systems.

“The ACA’s wish was to bring the atmosphere of the physical ACA Insurance Days to the digital world. In the proposed concept it was obvious that the format “TV show” could bring all the professionalism and elegance of the face-to-face exchanges of the previous editions. The partnership with a provider like BCE was an obvious choice.” Explains Pedro Castilho, Founder and Owner of Verbalius.

For its 2020 edition, the SATIS, a major event for audiovisual technologies, has setup the SATIS TV, the first event channel dedicated to the audiovisual sector.

Freecaster was on hand alongside BCE to provide coverage and live streaming for the two SATIS TV sets. The event reached about 10,000 viewers during the live event and more than 11,000 viewers on the replay/VOD (Video on Demand) platform of the event.

On the online video side, BCE worked with the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) on archiving broadcast footage with the aim of making the content management system available to FEI partners for content re-purposing. The company looked after the digitizing, safeguarding, and archiving of the FEI’s competition broadcast content, ingesting its live production, and providing worldwide live streaming services to fans around the world.

The FEI and their partners used BCE’s system to produce new content from the archive platform, which allowed the FEI to create programmes and distribute streaming feeds to multiple digital platforms such as FEI.tv, Facebook and YouTube.

On the video broadcast side, BCE introduced its cloud playout solution, adding a solution at an attractive price to its robust playout services and solutions.

Already used by french channels such as viàMATÉLÉ, TéléNantes, WeoTV, Gong, Connaissances du Monde, Demain! and LuxeTV, “Start and Play” can be easily deployed, without any investment, allowing the broadcast of channels within a short timeframe.

“Our engineers created a broadcast solution flexible enough to allow channels to adapt their service levels to their financial health, while maintaining the possibility of evolving towards more advanced services once their activity is relaunched” highlights Frédéric Lemaire, CEO at BCE.

The “Start and Play” cloud playout solution features three main offers:

“BCE is proud to be part of the Streaming Media Europe 101, it pictures very well the evolution of our range of services. BCE is always looking forward to offer the best solutions for the media world through constant innovation and the development of its expertise.” Concludes Laurent Seve, Marketing Manager at BCE.