Nova, the biggest commercial television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, is using technology supplied by leading broadcast and multiscreen systems integrator Visual Unity to power its live online streaming and Video on Demand service, VOYO.

Having worked closely with Visual Unity to launch and then transition VOYO to a subscription-only service earlier this year, TV Nova has once again relied on the company’s consultancy and technical support to launch two new channels – VOYO Cinema, a subscription-based movie channel and VOYO News, a free and continual online news channel that combines live streaming with video reports and advertising.

Visual Unity’s vuMedia integrated content management and delivery platform sits at the heart of the solution, enabling the efficient delivery and monetization of live content and access to TV Nova’s ever-expanding archive, which currently includes over 50,000 video assets. The end-to-end platform provides live simulcast streaming of multiple channels integrated with the station back-end and with AD TECH, the broadcaster’s advertising system.

Jakub Kabourek, Visual Unity’s CEO, says: “The technical solution behind VOYO had to provide a solid infrastructure that integrated fully with TV Nova’s existing technology and business systems. It also had to efficiently manage live and archived content in High Definition (720p), enable editing of live News feeds in real-time and deliver a high quality service and experience to subscribers. vuMedia™ addresses all these requirements and more in a very effective way.

“The system incorporates anti-piracy protection (Playready) and uses traditional Silverlight technology to deliver encrypted video content and Flash technology for free video content. In addition, viewers can choose from three quality options to suit the speed of their online connection.”

Part of CME Group and one of the most successful and profitable commercial television stations in Europe, TV Nova broadcasts 24 hours a day to audiences in the Czech Republic. Secure and reliable content distribution is key to the success of the broadcaster’s VOYO online service and for this it relies heavily on Visual Unity’s own Content Distribution Network, offering 100GBps throughput and 400 TB storage for tens-of-thousands of concurrent regional users.

Pavel Krbec, Internet and Other Interactive Services Director at TV Nova, says: “With vuMedia, Visual Unity has delivered a robust and efficient multiscreen solution that has enabled us to easily expand our services and we are delighted with the results. Our viewers enjoy a quality experience through a simple, elegant and intuitive player and by employing Visual Unity’s Content Delivery Network we are able to provide a highly reliable service. Thanks to our long standing relationship with Visual Unity we knew they would be the right systems integration and technology partner for this project and we really appreciate the on-going assistance and technical support they provide us with.”

Categories: Press Releases, VOD