Musicscreen, OKAST bring ‘watch at home’ support to UK independent cinemas
July 12, 2021
Global distribution company MusicScreen and Digital Solutions company OKAST have developed a bespoke video player platform to serve independent cinemas. The system has the unique ability to integrate seamlessly with cinemas existing ticketing system thereby preserving the ‘theatrical release’ status of the content.
CEO David Pope commented: “We wanted to provide our cinema partners with the ability to screen our movies and offer the option to watch at home without going head to head with the major VOD players. From the customers perspective, their local cinema is the trusted brand whilst behind the scenes, we have the rock-solid OTT technology of OKAST.”
Reel Cinemas, an independent cinema chain founded in 2001 have 15 sites across the UK including the traditional single-screen Scala in Ilkeston. The ‘Reeload’ branding of the VITC platform supports a smooth transition for Reel’s customers. MusicScreen, who specializes in bringing music concerts to cinema, have distributed movies to more than 1500 cinemas throughout Europe, USA, Australia, Russia, Japan and Latin America and look forward to rolling out the VITC system across the world with OKAST.
Cédric Monnier, CEO of OKAST, added: “We are delighted to be able to help MusicScreen in their mission to reinforce the core value of a cinema experience and increase prospects for the content to find a broader audience. The VITC platform demonstrates that digital is not a threat to independent movies and the distribution eco-system but a winning opportunity”.
The leading all-in-one OTT turn-key solution OKAST, initiated in 2015, having launched more than 300 platforms, provides the streaming architecture, the platform and its design, the complete management of the payment systems, the TV & mobile applications as well as the software allowing the piloting of the activity (content management, user CRM, analysis reports, etc.).